ISLAMABAD - Chairman Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior and leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Rehman Malik, on Saturday, strongly rejected the allegations levelled against him in a viral video, saying that he had never met chief of defunct Peoples Amn Committee Uzair Baloch.
Senator Rehman Malik, the then minister of interior, had initiated action against Uzair and had got him blacklisted and also had proscribed ‘Amn Committee’ after receiving negative reports regarding its involvement in militant activities, said a statement issued by the office of PPP lawmaker.
In the video that was first shared by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi on Twitter, Habib Jan Baloch levelled serious allegations against PPP leadership and Senator Malik for having their alleged connections with Uzair. A recently released report of Sindh police’s joint investigation team (JIT) revealed that Uzair was directly or indirectly involved in the killings of 198 people besides his involvement in extortion and land grabbing incidents. Habib Baloch, who claimed to be close aide to chief of defunct Amn Committee, in the video alleged that PPP gave Rs 50 million to Uzair in cash to mend its ties with him after the conclusion of operation in Karachi’s Layari area in 2012 and consequently he again joined PPP. “You, then saw that Qaim Ali Shah, Sharmila Farooqi and Faryal sahiba (all PPP leaders) had gone there (Layari).”
Habib Baloch alleged that Uzair was involved in transfer of police officers up to Sindh police chief and “Ministry of Interior through (then interior minister) Rehman Malik remained present at his door step (to serve him).” He also alleged that Uzair had met with co-chairman PPP Asif Ali Zardari in an important meeting. “Uzair had told me that he along with Qadir Patel (PPP lawmaker) went to see Zardari on his request.”
The office of the senator said that Rehman Malik was the one who had ordered head money for Uzair Baloch and had ordered his arrest and number of raids were conducted to arrest him with the last raid conducted at a farm house in Hub where Uzair managed to escape few minutes before the raid.
“All these actions against Uzair had the full endorsement and approval of the then President Asif Ali Zardari,” the statement said adding that then President Zardari had encouraged all actions by Senator Rehman Malik against Uzair. The statement added that Habib Jan was annoyed because PPP did not give him party ticket and because of this reason, he joined Uzair and later, he left for UK.
Senator A. Rehman Malik said that former President Asif Ali Zardari had never given any favour to Uzair and hence “attempts to malign him were motivated by his political opponents.
He said that Zardari had allowed the banning of the Amn Committee and how could the opponents say that Uzair Baloch had Zardari’s blessings. He added that opponents were doing propaganda without any solid grounds. The statement said Senator Malik had directed his lawyer in London to serve notice to Habib Jan and the channel for airing this baseless and fake news without taking his point of view. “It is matter of public record and may be verified where I had banned Amn committee”.
Earlier this week, Federal Minister Ali Zaidi released a separate JIT report which said that Uzair had extended criminal support to key leaders of PPP. He, in a press conference, had claimed that PPP had deliberately changed the original report and the report released by Sindh government was different from the one in his possession.