Mir Raza case: Sindh cabinet committee reviews implementation of commission report

KARACHI: A subcommittee of the Sindh cabinet met on Wednesday to review the implementation of recommendations made in the commission report on the death of young businessman Mir Raza Ali.

Sindh Home and Law Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, who is convening the subcommittee, chaired the meeting.

Local Government and Housing and Town Planning Minister Nasir Hussain Shah and Labour and Human Resources Minister Saeed Ghani attended the meeting, along with Sindh Advocate General Jawad Dero and Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Muhammad Iqbal Memon.

The committee discussed the commission’s findings and the mechanism for implementing its recommendations, while reviewing relevant matters concerning their implementation.

Lanjar said the committee would submit its recommendations to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the earliest.

Earlier on Tuesday, the judicial commission investigating the death of Mir Raza said that his death was murder, not suicide, pointing to serious negligence and failures in the police investigation.

The Sindh government made the commission’s report public following a decision by the provincial cabinet to release its findings.

According to the report, serious negligence and unprofessional conduct marred the investigation, while the possibility that evidence had been destroyed could not be ruled out. It also raised the possibility that facts had been concealed during the initial stages of the investigation.

The judicial commission said the controversy arose after a death initially declared a suicide was subsequently described as murder.

It said police continued to maintain the suicide theory despite its inconsistency with the second post-mortem report. The conduct of Dr Usama and people associated with him further reinforced that position, according to the report.