KARACHI: The four-member law enforcement team comprising senior police and Rangers officers that left for Dubai a week ago to take custody of Peoples Amn Committee (PAC) leader Uzair Jan Baloch is waiting for the Federal Investigation Authority’s representative to hold talks with the authorities in Dubai since the latter has refused to entertain the team without an FIA representative, it emerged on Sunday.

The team led by SSP Naveed Khwaja left for Dubai on Feb 5 after the interior ministry directed the provincial and federal authorities to conclude the custody process of the PAC leader.

Uzair Baloch, 37, was arrested by Interpol in Muscat and taken to Dubai in December. In accordance with the official requirement, the FIA official was supposed to leave for Dubai in a day or two after the law enforcement team’s departure. As of now, this has not happened.

Also read: Uzair Baloch arrested in Dubai, confirms Pakistani consulate

On Friday, additional inspector general Ghulam Qadir Thebo wrote to the ministries of interior and foreign affairs to extend the deadline for bringing back Uzair by at least a month so that the FIA official could reach Dubai and continue the documentation process. “As the process was initiated by the ministry of interior, it is their responsibility to send a representative to Dubai who can deal with further investigation. Police are a provincial authority, they are not authorised to deal with international authorities. The FIA needs to be there to take up the process with the Interpol as they won’t speak to us,” said AIG Thebo.

An FIA officer explained that in such cases an FIA representative was sent from the Pakistan embassy’s link office in Muscat if an FIA official was not sent from Pakistan.

“The process can work both ways, that is, an officer can be sent from Pakistan and extra help can also be taken from the Pakistan embassy’s link office in Muscat,” the officer added.

Uzair fled Pakistan soon after the Rangers operation in Karachi began in September 2013. In May last year, the Sindh government sent documents to the federal authorities seeking issuance of red warrants against Lyari gangsters Uzair and Baba Ladla, who, according to a document, had fled to Iran, Oman, the UAE and South Africa. Eventually, the warrants were issued for both Uzair and Baba on June 11 and 12, respectively. In December last year, Interpol arrested Uzair for the authorities in Muscat and brought him to Dubai.

When Dawn contacted Dr Atif Naveed, the FIA official based at the link office in Muscat, he said the process was usually taken forward between the two governments. “I have not been contacted in this case as yet. But there is another route which can be considered by the country that is to contact the foreign ministry of Dubai through its counterpart in Islamabad,” he added.

An official closely linked with the case, but not authorised to speak to the media, said: “The case may have taken a political turn as it could be facing delays at the moment. The custody process does not take too long to come to a conclusion. A suspect in such cases is handed over to Interpol’s counterpart in Pakistan i.e. the FIA as has happened in many similar cases over the years. Otherwise, the presence of a local police are enough as they have the required court documents and cases filed against him [Uzair] in local police stations.”

The official further said the FIA and Interpol had done their part in the process, that was, to locate the suspect, translate the required documents of the case in Arabic and English, notify the counsellor at the Embassy of Pakistan in the UAE and handing the suspect over to the authorities. After the authorities complete the process the case, then, goes to the local court in Dubai where it is decided whether the suspect is to be detained or handed over to his respective country. “Going by the way this case is shaping up, it seems the ministry of foreign affairs on both sides will now decide the future course,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2015

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