KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday dismissed the bail application of an alleged Lyari gangster in four cases registered during an operation conducted in that neighbourhood in 2012.

Abdul Ghaffar, alias Mama, said to be a close aide of Uzair Baloch, through his lawyer moved a bail application in four cases, including the murder of then SHO of the Civil Line police station Fawad Khan.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the two-judge bench headed by Justice Abdul Maalik Gaddi dismissed the bail application.

Lawyer for the petitioner Mushtaq Ahmed argued that the accused had been behind bars since 2012 and the trial had not been concluded yet and pleaded for bail.

Special public prosecutor Sajid Mehboob Shaikh argued that the delay was caused since the main accused in those cases, Uzair Baloch, was handed over to military authorities to face trial before the military court.

However, he maintained that his custody had recently been handed back to the jail authorities and the trial of such cases had been commenced before the antiterrorism courts.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2020