Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar announced on Thursday that a joint investigation team will be formed to investigate the murder of Mir Raza Ali, acting on the recommendations of the judicial commission that probed the case. The Mir Raza JIT will work under West Deputy Inspector General of Police Irfan Baloch, and its summary has been sent to the chief minister.
The 25-year-old businessman and Institute of Business Administration graduate went missing on July 28 after leaving his home in PECHS, and his body, bearing gunshot wounds, was found a day later in bushes in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.
What the Mir Raza JIT will do
Speaking to the media in Karachi, Lanjar said the decision to place the JIT under DIG Baloch followed the judicial commission’s report, which had specifically suggested his appointment. The report, submitted to the government on October 15 by Sindh High Court judge Justice Omar Sial, called the JIT the “most viable path” to repair the reputational damage the case has caused the Sindh government, while balancing “the need for public accountability with preserving Sindh Police morale and reputation”.
Lanjar said he had recommended that the JIT’s terms of reference include presenting a charge sheet once the investigation is complete. “It is the prerogative of the court to accept it or not under the circumstances; either it is a murder or suicide,” he added.
The commission had also recommended bringing senior representatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency into the JIT to ensure an “impartial, comprehensive, and credible resolution”. The formal notification of the JIT’s formation and composition is yet to be issued.
In line with another recommendation, the home minister said a committee headed by DIG Zulfiqar Ali Larik had been formed to take action against police officers found negligent in the case.
From ‘epic failure’ to a fresh probe
The 62-page judicial commission report, authored by Justice Sial after examining 49 witnesses, declared that the case demonstrated “an epic failure by the police in their investigation”, finding that the probe had “failed in its most basic duty: to establish the truth”. It found “criminal negligence” by three officials.
The police had initially built the case around suicide, citing the first autopsy, which recorded a bullet entry wound on the chest, along with the victim’s business losses and borrowed money. But police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed disputed those findings, and a second post-mortem termed the first report “inconsistent” with suicide, concluding unanimously that death was caused by a gunshot wound to the back.
The commission was formed in August after the family accused the police of burying the facts, and it was granted an extension to submit its findings by October 15. The provincial cabinet has since been reviewing the report’s implementation, as reported earlier on Feature Pakistan.
Who will head the Mir Raza JIT?
West DIG Irfan Baloch, as recommended by the judicial commission headed by Justice Omar Sial.
What will the JIT’s mandate include?
The home minister has suggested its terms of reference include presenting a charge sheet after completing the investigation, subject to the court’s acceptance.
What did the judicial commission find?
It declared the death a murder, found “criminal negligence” by three police officials, and called the investigation an “epic failure”.
Read our earlier coverage: the judicial commission’s findings and the cabinet body’s review.
