Govt to form JIT in Mir Raza case

Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hasan Lanjar said on Thursday that the government would constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the Mir Raza case in line with the findings and recommendations of the judicial commission, adding that the team would be formed after approval from the chief minister and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would be formally approached in this regard.

Speaking to the media at the Sindh Assembly, the home minister said that the provincial government received a detailed, seven-volume report on the Mir Raza case. A subcommittee of the Sindh Cabinet has reviewed the matter and briefed the chief minister on its findings, he added.

The minister said the judicial commission was constituted on the chief minister's directives and entrusted with an important responsibility by the provincial government. He described Justice Umar Sial as an experienced and senior judge, adding that the government had prepared its recommendations in light of the commission's findings.

Lanjar said the cabinet's subcommittee has prepared a draft of its recommendations, which would be submitted to the chief minister for approval. Once the recommendations were approved, the JIT would be constituted and a letter sent to the FIA.

He added that he would recommend to the chief minister that the JIT complete its investigation and submit a charge sheet before the relevant court.

The home minister further said a separate committee, headed by Zulfiqar Larik, would be formed to inquire into the conduct of police officers in connection with the case.

Referring to the affected family's demand for a JIT, Lanjar said the family had approached the constitutional court seeking its formation, but the petition had been dismissed. He maintained that the provincial government would abide by the judicial commission's findings and recommendations.

He added that he had also conveyed to Justice Umar Sial the government's willingness to assist in the matter, saying the affected family was also agreeable to a JIT investigation.

Earlier, the single-member Judicial Commission probing the death of 25-year-old Mir Raza Ali had recommended a joint investigation team (JIT), led by DIG Irfan Baloch and comprising senior representatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), to establish the truth.

In a scathing assessment, the commission had termed the police investigation an "epic failure", warning that the trust deficit between the Sindh police and society had become "nearly unrectifiable" in this case.

Headed by Sindh High Court Judge Justice Omar Sial, the commission had submitted its report to the provincial chief minister on October 15, 2026.

The commission concluded that the available medical and physical evidence was incompatible with suicide. "The bullet trajectory, the unusual location of the wound for a self-inflicted injury, the absence of blood, the state of the body, the principles of medical jurisprudence, acid burns and the anesthesia detected in the blood, all clearly excluded suicide as the cause of death. It was a murder," the report stated.

The commission found that the police had failed in their most basic responsibility: establishing the truth. It said the suicide hypothesis rested on a handful of unconfirmed text messages, selectively obtained video footage and a preliminary post-mortem report that did not itself conclude that the death was a suicide.

The report also pointed to contradictions between the first and second reports prepared by Dr Osama Shaikh, further weakening the police position.