KARACHI: On Wednesday, an antiterrorism court cleared Uzair Baloch, the leader of the banned Peoples Amn Committee, in three charges including kidnapping, planned murder, and a run-in with the law owing to “lack of evidence.”
Numerous criminal cases involving kidnapping, murder, encounters, and running extortion rings allegedly with the support of senior police officers and the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party are being tried against the reputed kingpin of Lyari.
The ATC-VII judge, who presided over the trial inside the central prison’s judicial complex, delivered his earlier-reserved verdicts in the three instances on Wednesday.
According to the judge, the prosecution’s case against the defendants Uzair Baloch, Zakir alias Dada, and Muhammad Shahid was unfounded.
If his custody was not required in any other case, the judge ordered Uzair, who is kept in a Rangers detention facility, to be released immediately.
Uzair, however, cannot be immediately released, according to attorney Abid Zaman, because he is now being tried in roughly 15 similar criminal cases. He claimed that about 20 criminal cases had resulted in his acquittal so far.
The prosecution alleges that on February 15, 2012, two members of the competing Katchi Rabita Committee were abducted and one of them was assassinated under the direction of PAC chairman Uzair by his armed aides Zubair Baloch, Zafar Baloch alias Langra, and others.
