Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hassan said on Monday the provincial government had deferred the decision on the formation of a judicial commission to probe the Mir Raza Ali murder case.

Lanjar made the announcement on X, saying that Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab had spoken to Ali’s family had “confidence in the new police team” constituted to investigate the case and was of the view that it should conduct the probe.

“Therefore, the decision of establishing a judicial commission has been deferred for the time being,” he said.

An IBA graduate and the owner of eatery Wafflix, Ali had gone missing on July 28, and his body was found a day later with a gunshot wound in bushes in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar.

While his family was convinced that he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, police had previously been building the case around the possibility that he died by suicide.

A murder charge was eventually added to the first information report after the exhumation and a second postmortem of Ali’s body revealed that he had suffered multiple injuries and was shot in the back, ruling out the possibility of suicide.

On Sunday, PPP leader Faryal Talpur recommended a judicial commission to probe the case, saying it should examine all aspects of the incident and bring the facts to light.

A few hours after Talpur’s statement, Lanjar and Wahab had reached Ali’s residence, met with his father, Mir Hussain Ali, and assured the family that they would be provided complete justice. Talking to the media after the meeting, Lanjar had said a decision had been taken to conduct a judicial inquiry, under the supervision of a Sindh High Court judge, into the murder case.

However, Jibran Nasir, the family’s lawyer, posted on X that they had not requested or consented to any judicial commission.

“Nor do we believe it’s required at this stage. A new investigation team has been formed, which the family will meet tomorrow. The Sindh government should not try to create hurdles/confusion in the name of ‘facilitation,’“ he said.

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