The Uzair Baloch confession

Baloch's statement makes for hair-raising reading and is a catalogue of murder, extortion and gangster activity

There are going to be those that dismiss the detailed confessional statement made by the gangster Uzair Baloch as being nothing more than lurid fiction designed to save his own skin. The statement makes for hair-raising reading and is a catalogue of murder, extortion and gangster activity unlike anything in recent times. He made the statement before a judicial magistrate that was then submitted to a two-member bench of the Sindh High Court that was at the time hearing a case relating to missing persons.

The Baloch statement would be easy to dismiss but for the comprehensive detail it contains that correlates in some instances with facts in the public domain, as well as events spread over several years. Of particular note are allegations relating to public figures, some of them still in positions of power and influence, that it is alleged were involved in corruption. The fisheries department paid money; Baloch allegedly colluded with the jail authorities in the Central Jail, Karachi, in various enterprises, and a number of police officers are implicated in the extortion of monies that then found their way back to Baloch.

If but a fraction of what Baloch alleges is true then it does nothing more than confirm the depth and breadth of corruption in Sindh, its institutionalisation and the embedding of a culture of criminality that makes it truly endemic. Again if true this goes from top to bottom of political parties and organs of governance. The allegations of cooperation between criminals and politicians and administrators display an almost incredible diversity with housing, sugar mills and land encroachments all in play. It now transpires that Baloch fears for his life and wishes to be transferred to Rangers custody as those he has named will be seeking revenge. He has not endeared himself to the military or the intelligence services either with his disclosure of sensitive information to Iran. These allegations are too vast to ignore, even if some of them are fictionalised versions of actual events.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2017.

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