Uzair Baloch acquitted of yet another attempted murder

A sessions court has acquitted Lyari’s suspected gangster Uzair Baloch in yet another case of attempted murder and shootout with the police as the prosecution once again failed to prove the charges against him.

Baloch, then chief of the now-defunct Peoples Aman Committee, has been exonerated in 15 cases of kidnapping, murder, extortion and other crimes of a similar nature by different courts in the past four months.

In the latest case, he was accused of attacking an armoured personnel carrier (APC) of the police that had been patrolling in Lyari during a crackdown on criminal gangs in the neighbourhood.

The state prosecutor argued that the accused and his armed accomplices had ambushed the APC on Shah Waliullah Road in Nayaabad and shot at policemen with the intent to kill them. He said the accused had fled taking advantage of the narrow streets in the neighbourhood after the police returned the fire. He added that the absconding accomplices of the accused included Sajjad Khatri, Habib Jan and Naseer Lakho.

The defence counsel argued that the case against his client was politically motivated and the prosecution did not possess any substantial evidence against him. He pleaded that the court acquit Baloch.

The additional district & sessions judge (South), who conducted the trial of the accused inside the prison due to security concerns, observed that the prosecution could not prove the charges against the accused, so he was acquitted of the charges.

The Pakistan Rangers had claimed arresting Baloch in January 2016 from the outskirts of Karachi while he was trying to enter the city through the border of Balochistan. On the contrary, according to some unverified reports, he was arrested earlier in Dubai with the help of Interpol and later brought to Pakistan in an extremely quite affair.