Baba Ladla, Uzair Baloch gangs declare ceasefire in Lyari: QAT president

KARACHI: The Baba Ladla and Uzair Baloch gangs have declared a ceasefire in Lyari, Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) president Ayaz Latif Palejo told Express News on Saturday. Palejo said that both groups have assigned him the task of restoring peace in the area. He said that Lyari Ittehad Committee has been formed to overlook the process of ensuring peace in the area. The committee will be headed by the QAT president. Palejo told Express News that the decision to declare a ceasefire was made after speaking to members of both gangs over the past ten days. He also stated that both gangs have assured him that they will not take any action to disrupt peace in Lyari. Palejo asked all political parties and the Director General Rangers to help the committee achieve peace in the area and in Karachi. Brewing tension The announcement comes three days after rival gangs fought bloody battles in Lyari, leaving 19 civilians – among them 10 women and four children – dead and 50-plus wounded on March 12. Law-enforcers claimed that they killed eight alleged gangsters involved in the bloodshed. Although tension has been brewing in Lyari since the killing of five relatives of Baba Ladla, the head of one of the three major criminal gangs, on March 10, the situation boiled over on March 12 when a brother of Ghaffar Zikri, the head honcho of another powerful gang allied with the Baba Ladla group, was killed in an alleged encounter with the law enforcers. According to insiders, the two gangs suspected that their rival, Uzair Baloch, the head of the defunct Peoples Amn Committee, was behind these killings. Interestingly, the dons of all three gangs – Baba Ladla, Ghaffar Zikri and Uzair Baloch – have been underground for a couple of months – and it’s their minions who have been operating in Lyari, which has been plagued by sporadic outbreak of criminal-related violence since long.