The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday constituted a judicial commission to investigate the Mir Raza Ali murder case, even as his family approached the court opposing the move and demanding an investigation through a Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
The commission was formed following a request from the Sindh government, which said it had taken the concerns raised by Mir Raza’s family “extremely seriously”.
According to a letter issued by SHC Deputy Registrar Abbas Mehdi to the Sindh Home Department, Chief Justice of the SHC nominated Justice Umar Sial to head the judicial commission investigating the case.
Earlier on Monday, however, Mir Raza’s family filed a petition before the SHC seeking a JIT investigation instead of a judicial commission.
Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon heard the petition and issued notices to all parties, directing them to submit their responses by the next hearing on August 31.
The family’s petition names 19 individuals as well as several Sindh government institutions as respondents. Doctors Usama and Samia, who conducted Mir Raza’s post-mortem, and members of the existing investigation team have also been named.
The family’s lawyer, Jibran Nasir, argued that the police investigation had so far failed to reach a conclusion and said the family had learned through media reports about the provincial government’s plans to establish a judicial commission.
“At this stage, the formation of a judicial commission will negatively affect the case,” Nasir told the court.
The legal challenge means the SHC will now consider the family’s objections to the commission while Justice Umar Sial has been nominated to lead the inquiry ordered at the Sindh government’s request.