ATC summons JIT head to testify about Uzair Baloch’s murder confessions

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday summoned the head of the joint investigation team (JIT), which had quizzed alleged gangster Uzair Baloch about his criminal enterprise involved in land grabbing, extortion and murders.

The ATC-XVI judge directed SSP Fida Hussain Janwari, who headed the JIT on Uzair, to appear before the court and testify about the alleged gangster’s confessions of the murder of two Rangers personnel.

According to the JIT, two Rangers personnel, Muneer Ahmed Bhutto and Aijaz Ahmed Baloch, who were on intelligence duty, were kidnapped in Lyari by another gangster Sher Muhammad Sheikh and were later killed on the orders of Uzair in March 2013. The judge ordered the SSP to bring all the relevant documents to the court on the next hearing so that his statement could be recorded without any hassle.

Uzair faces over six dozen cases pertaining to murder, kidnapping, extortion and terrorism. Since January 2021, he has been acquitted in 21 cases. Meanwhile, he has been sentenced to 12-year imprisonment by a military court for spying for Iranian intelligence agencies. The Rangers had announced the arrest of Uzair in a raid on the outskirts of Karachi in January 2016.