From Eman Alam
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday constituted a judicial commission to investigate the Mir Raza Ali murder case at the request of the Sindh government, while his family approached the court opposing the commission and seeking a probe through a Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
A day earlier, the Sindh government had requested the chief justice of the SHC to constitute a judicial commission to investigate the murder of Ali, saying that the provincial government had taken the concerns raised by Ali’s family “extremely seriously” and that a letter sent by the family to the chief minister had been received.
According to a letter issued by the SHC Deputy Registrar Abbas Mehdi to the Sindh Home Department secretary regarding the formation of a judicial commission today, “the chief justice of the SHC has nominated Justice Umar Sial as the head of the judicial commission. Justice Umar Sial will lead the commission investigating the case.”
Earlier in the day, opposing the formation of the judicial commission and seeking an investigation into the case through a JIT, Ali’s family approached the SHC.
Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon heard the petition filed by Ali’s family; later the court issued notices to all parties for August 31 and sought their responses by the next hearing.
In their petition, Ali’s family has made 19 individuals, along with various Sindh government institutions, respondents. Dr Usama and Dr Samia, who conducted Ali’s post-mortem, have also been made respondents.
Members of the team investigating the case have also been named as respondents.
Petitioner’s lawyer Jibran Nasir said that the police investigation had so far failed to reach any conclusion. He said they learned through the media that the Sindh government was planning to constitute a judicial commission to investigate the case.
“At this stage, the formation of a judicial commission will negatively affect the case,” Jibran Nasir said.
