Court puts off hearing after Uzair Baloch not produced over COVID-19 risk

A sessions court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of cases against Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch till May 14 after the jail authorities informed that they could not produce him over the coronavirus risk.

Baloch, one of the kingpins of Lyari gang war and chief of the defunct Peoples Amn Committee, faces around five dozen cases pertaining to felonies, including murders, attempted murders, shootouts with law enforcers and kidnappings.

The court of the additional district and sessions judge (South) in the Central Jail’s judicial complex has been dealing with 20 such cases against the gangster and his group.

On Tuesday, when the matter was put up for hearing, the prison officials moved an application, stating that Baloch could not be produced because of the fear of spread of the COVID-19.

They requested the court to adjourn the hearing. Allowing the request, the judge adjourned the hearing till May 14. The court also directed the prison chief to ensure the suspect appeared at the next hearing.

After the arrest of Baloch, the army had taken him into custody in April 2017 on charges of espionage and leak of sensitive security information to foreign intelligence agencies.

He was handed back to the home authorities recently, and now is set to face trial in all the pending cases against him.

Staffer tests positive

An anti-terrorism court asked the provincial health authorities to conduct tests on of its staffers after one of their colleagues tested positive for the coronavirus.

The ATC-XIV judge in a letter directed the Services Hospital Karachi’s medical superintendent to arrange for the testing services immediately. The judge asked the medical superintendent to ensure conducting tests on all the court staffers, who remained in close contact with the infected person.