Arshad Pappu murder case: SHC reminds IG that Uzair Baloch is still on the run

High court CJ asks why Baloch couldn’t be arrested if he was meeting media personnel regularly.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) sent a reminder to Sindh IGP Shahid Nadeem Baloch for failing to submit a report on the police’s failure to arrest the chief of the defunct Peoples Amn Committee, Uzair Jan Baloch, who has been declared a proclaimed offender in the Arshad Pappu murder case.

The reminder is a continuation of the direction issued to the police chief on July 25 by SHC chief justice Mushir Alam, who had taken notice of the law enforcers’ failure to bring to book the chairperson of the Karachi City Alliance, formerly known as the Peoples Amn Committee. The court noted that the absconder, Uzair, was apparently easily accessible to media persons but somehow always managed to evade capture by the law enforcement agencies. By Monday, no report had been submitted with the SHC registrar.



On July 23, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi had ordered the police to initiate procedure for proclamation of Uzair Jan Baloch, a Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Shahjehan Baloch, Zubair Baloch, Zakir Dada, Abdul Rehman and a police official, Yousuf Baloch, who have been charge-sheeted in the triple murder case. Police were also ordered to seize their properties.

The men were all suspects in the murder of Lyari’s notorious gangster, Arshad Pappu, who was killed on March 16 along with his brother Yasir Arafat, and their confidant, Juma Sher. The three were killed allegedly after severe torture. Their mutilated, defaced bodies were found from a manhole in Lyari.

On the directives of the Supreme Court, a murder case was lodged by Kalakot police, who declared Uzair, Habib Jan, Noor Muhammad alias Baba Ladla, his brother Zahid Ladla, Asif Kana, Faisal Pathan, Yasir Pathan along with Chand Khan Niazi and Javed Baloch - the then station house officers of Chakiwara and Kalakot police stations - as absconders.

The trial court had declared them as proclaimed offenders after they failed to turn up on their own despite the issuance of repeated notices and the fact that law enforcers failed to track them down. Hours after the proclamation, Uzair Baloch arranged a large iftar party for media personnel in Lyari which was attended by nearly 500 media personnel.

Taking notice, the CJ Mushir Alam had directed the IG police to submit a report as to why Uzair Baloch had not been arrested. Although, police had claimed to have raided Uzair’s residence on July 27, he reportedly managed to evade capture once again.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2013.