Journey of a failed politician, a successful gangster

Rangers declare arrest of Lyari’s Uzair Jan Baloch

KARACHI:

They say the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And it isn’t a pretty sight when that happens. Pictures of a dishevelled-looking man being escorted by Rangers personnel took the social media by storm on Saturday.

The man is none other than Lyari’s self-styled don Sardar Uzair Jan Baloch - the gangster turned wannabe politician who had challenged the power corridors and set up his own fiefdom in the restive neighbourhood.



At the height of his power, Uzair’s security protocol comprised at least a 100 guards armed with Kalashnikovs, AK-47s and even rocket launchers. He would travel around his kingdom in a Land Cruiser, surrounded by his trusted guards. His signature look comprised a starched white shalwar kameez, a Sindhi cap and a keffiyeh draped over his shoulders, exuding an aura of invincibility to those around him.

But the humble-looking man who stepped out in handcuffs, flanked by paramilitary men on both sides, hardly exudes the same persona. He had done away with the keffiyeh and sat with a grim face in the law enforcers’ vehicle. His confident smile has been replaced by a look of dread etched across his face.

Making of a gangster

If there is one word to describe Uzair’s political life, it would be ‘short’. He contested the elections for town nazim in 2001 but lost them to Habib Jan. This was the first time that his name appeared on Lyari’s political map.



The next time Uzair was forced into the limelight was when his father, Faiz Muhammad alias Mama Faizu, was killed in 2003. Arshad Pappu, the son of a Lyari gang leader Haji Lalu, known as the commander of drug operations in the neighbourhood since the 1990s, was accused of killing Mama Faizu, even though it was not planned. Arshad had recently joined his father’s gang and had only kidnapped Uzair’s father for ransom. After an altercation, Arshad shot Mama Faizu in his leg and left him on the road to bleed to death.

His father’s murder was a turning point for Uzair, who vowed to avenge his death. Soon after, he joined a group of Lyari gangsters, led by his cousin Rehman Dakait.

Mama Faizu’s death had unsettled the affairs of the gang led by Arshad’s father. Haji Lalu tried to reach a settlement with Uzair but the latter had already sworn allegiance with the former’s rival, Rehman Dakait. The gang rivalry continued but Uzair was unable to avenge his father’s death.

In October 2006, Arshad was arrested by the police and was imprisoned in jail for several years. Three years later, in August 2009, Rehman Dakait was killed by the slain police officer, SP Chaudhary Aslam Khan and Uzair became his successor.



Leading Peoples Amn Committee

It was after Rehman Dakait’s death that Uzair came to rule the restive neighbourhood of Lyari. He also came to head the Peoples Amn Committee (PAC), sort of an NGO formed by Rehman to carry out social work in Lyari but was later declared a banned outfit due to its involvement in extortion and kidnappings in the city. The PAC emerged as a subsidiary of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and was supported by the now estranged PPP leader, Zulfiqar Mirza.

It was during this reign of terror that Uzair came to avenge his father’s death. In March 2013, he allegedly kidnapped and killed Arshad, a year after the latter was released from jail in February 2012. Arshad was reportedly brought to Lyari and was tortured before his body was cut into several pieces and strewn across manholes in the neighbourhood.

The Uzair Baloch group also gave a tough time to the police when the slain Chaudhry Aslam conducted a 10-day-long Lyari operation in 2012. The police were unable to enter the narrow streets of Lyari to apprehend Uzair and his chief operations commander, Baba Ladla.



Differences within Uzair’s gang began to emerge after the 2013 general elections when Uzair allegedly asked Baba Ladla to fight with Lyari’s Kutchi community - something that Baba Ladla was opposed to. Even after Uzair was declared proclaimed offender in Arshad Pappu’s murder and fled the country, the rivalry with Baba Ladla continues. Since Uzair’s departure from Lyari, Baba Ladla has managed to establish his control over nearly 70% of the neighbourhood by joining hands with Arshad’s successor, Ghaffar Zikri.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2016.