Attack on defunct PAC president: FIR lodged against Bilawal House security chief

Police find no evidence of hand grenades used in the attack.

KARACHI:

The police have booked Akram Baloch, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) activist and former security chief of Bilawal and Zardari houses, and six other men for an attack on defunct Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) president Uzair Baloch.

Nearly 18 people were injured on Tuesday morning when a dozen men on motorcycles and four wheelers attacked Uzair’s convoy with hand grenades near Ghas Mandi. Uzair’s guards retaliated but the attackers escaped under cover of fire. City Town SP Saqib Sultan said that all the injured people were released from hospital.

SHO Shahid Mehmood said, however, that no evidence from the crime scene indicated that the attackers hurled hand grenades at the convoy. The attack took place due to an internal fight and the police are trying to find out what it is, he said.

Defunct PAC leader Zafar Baloch told The Express Tribune that only three to four passersby were among those injured while the rest of the victims were party workers. He said that the assailants attacked the convoy when Uzair and the workers were returning from Ghanchi Para.

An FIR No. 76/11 under section 324/34 was registered on the complaint of Habibur Rehman, who did not add the section on the Explosives Act. Akram and six of his associates, Abid Bengali, Afzal, Shehzad, Sameer, Bilal and notorious gangster Arshad Pappu’s brother Shera, were nominated.

PPP sources said that Akram is a senior party activist and is currently the president of Karachi’s old city area. He is also close to President Asif Ali Zardari, especially when the latter was released from jail.

According to Zafar, Akram is misusing the name of the PPP. He accused him of masterminding the attack on Uzair. “Akram is among those people who were kicked out of Lyari by its residents because he was involved in killings, extortion, kidnappings, etc,” he said. Zafar said that Akram has now formed his own group that comprises criminals related to Arshad Pappu. He felt that Akram wants to return to Lyari and that is why he is trying to remove PAC.

City Town SP Saqib Sultan said that the police raided Akram’s house in Salar Compound, Bhimpura. “We were unable to make any arrests,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2011.