KARACHI: A sessions court on Tuesday acquitted Uzair Baloch, the chief of the outlawed Peoples Amn Committee, in a 16-year-old double murder and police encounter case for lack of evidence.

Uzair Baloch and his accomplices were charged with killing Constable Muhammad Asif and passer-by Nisar Ahmed in an encounter with law enforcers in 2009.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Abdul Hafeez Lashari, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove charges against Uzair.

The court acquitted the accused under Section 265-H (acquittal or conviction) of the code of criminal procedure.

The court ordered jail authorities to release him if he was not required in any other case. However, the Lyari kingpin is facing over a dozen other criminal cases and is not going to be released.

Defence lawyers Tayab Bhandani and Hyder Jatoi stated that their client was implicated in this case after the arrest of three accused — Hafeez alias Dada, Babar Punjabi, and Zubair.

The counsel submitted that the three accused were acquitted in 2012 and later the police had arrested two more suspects, who were also exonerated from charges in 2017.

Highlighting contradictions in the witnesses’ testimonies, the counsel argued that the earlier accused had been acquitted on merit and that the private witnesses for the prosecution had failed to identify his client before the court.

A case was registered against Uzair at the Chakiwara police station under Sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 302 (premediated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2025