Uzair Baloch requests transfer to central jail

Alleged kingpin of the Lyari gang war Uzair Baloch moved an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday for his transfer from the Mitharam Hostel to the Central Jail Karachi.

Uzair had been sent to the Mitharam Hostel manned by Rangers over security concerns.

According to the home department, security threats had loomed over keeping the high-profile gangster in the prison, due to which he was transferred to a safer place.

He has already been convicted by a military court to 12 years in prison over espionage charges while around five dozen cases are pending against him.

The judge issued notice to the home department to file their comments accordingly on the application and approved the second application by Uzair to let him meet his family.

On the court orders, the wife, daughter and father-in-law of Uzair were allowed to meet him inside the courtroom in the presence of police guards for around 25 minutes. He had contended that authorities at the Mitharam Hostel did not let his family meet him. He pleaded that the meeting should be allowed on humanitarian grounds and because of the fact that it was his basic right to meet his family.

Meanwhile, the ATC gave more time to the prosecution to present a witness against the gangster in the kidnapping-cum-murder case of two Rangers intelligence personnel.

Muneer Ahmed Bhutto and Aijaz Ahmed Baloch, both belonging to the intelligence wing of the Sindh Rangers, were kidnapped in Lyari and later their tortured bodies were found in the Mewa Shah Graveyard in March 2013.

According to the Sindh government’s joint investigation team’s report, the personnel were abducted by a gangster, Sher Muhammad Sheikh, who informed Uzair that they were spying on him, and later Uzair told him to kill them.