Pakistan court acquits alleged crime boss in 41st case as experts rue ‘weak prosecutions’

KARACHI: A Pakistani court on Wednesday acquitted suspected crime lord Uzair Jan Baloch in his 41st criminal case due to lack of evidence, his lawyer confirmed, as crime experts pointed out flaws in the country’s prosecution especially concerning suspects with ties to political leaders. 
Baloch, long suspected of building a criminal empire through extortion, kidnapping, and drugs, has been cleared of charges in a 2009 police encounter that killed his predecessor, Abdul Rehman, known as “Rehman Dakait.”
The acquittal marks the 41st time Baloch has been cleared of criminal charges since his arrest in 2016, one of his legal counsels Abid Zaman told Arab News. Zaman hoped charges against Uzair in the remaining 18 cases would be dropped “soon” due to lack of evidence. 
“Uzair Baloch has been acquitted in the police encounter case due to lack of evidence,” Safdar Ali, the alleged warlord’s lawyer pleading his cases in district courts, told reporters. He said the case was registered in 2009 in Karachi’s Steel Town Police Station.
Despite his acquittal, Baloch will remain in prison on other charges and is also serving a sentence handed down by a military court for spying for Iran.
Baloch was for years considered close to politicians within the ruling party in the southern Sindh province, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Zoha Waseem, co-coordinator of the global research network Urban Violence Research Network and author of ‘Insecure Guardians: Enforcement, encounters and Everyday Policing in Postcolonial Karachi,’ said it is difficult to provide evidence against people like Baloch, who are “politically connected individuals.”
She said such people are “prioritized as assets by various centers of power” in Pakistan, adding that evidence against them hardly stands in court and helps prosecution. 
“Such individuals are high risk assets because they may reveal information that can hurt the powers that be,” she told Arab News. “Or perhaps they are still seen as potential assets.”
Waseem said cases against politically connected individuals like Uzair are weakened sometimes due to legal technicalities and sometimes due to “political preferences in a given political climate.”
Arman Sabir, an expert on Karachi crime, said Baloch was initially not involved in criminal activities. However, following the murder of his father, Baloch sought revenge against a rival. 
“Baloch’s criminal record grew as he became entangled in numerous skirmishes with rival gangs, resulting in multiple criminal cases against him,” Sabir noted. 
He said Baloch managed to avoid arrest largely due to political support from influential figures in Pakistan.
“Acquittals in these cases have been facilitated by poorly drafted FIRs [complaints] and weak prosecutions, highlighting significant deficiencies in the police and home department’s handling of these cases,” Sabir said.
He said even if acquitted in all cases, Baloch will remain in jail until his term announced by the military court completes.