Death in Karachi

ON the night of Aug 13, 2026, Mir Raza Ali’s father was on TV imploring — as he had been doing for some time — for justice. It is now over two weeks since Mir Raza Ali, a 25-year-old businessman, left his home on an ill-fated trip that would be his last. The gruesome nature of his death, questions surrounding the initial police investigation and the inconsistent behaviour of the officials demonstrate why parents in Karachi so fear their children leaving their homes. In this sense, there are at least three dimensions to the death of Mir Raza Ali. First is the immense grief and the individual tragedy faced by the family of the young man. The death of one so young is heartbreaking enough, but the horrific details of this case and the mystery that surrounds those who appeared to have tortured and killed him have deepened the tragedy. Second is the story of lapses in the investigation of his death and the dismissive attitude of Karachi’s police force towards the violent deaths of young people. Third, there is the message that the ongoing disclosures and delays convey to the people of an exhausted and neglected city. The violent death of Mir Raza Ali has gripped the city. Here was a young man who did not leave the country despite having the opportunity to do so. Mir Raza was a business wunderkind, starting a business on next to nothing as an 18-year-old and making it a resounding success. In interviews, Mir Raza leveraged this fact as evidence that there is hope for the young in Karachi and the rest of the country. He created jobs for scores of people. One of them, holding a placard at Karachi’s Teen Talwar area, could not stop his tears when talking about just how well-mannered, professional and respectful the young man had been. If the family had not been able to somehow set up a protest movement — and Karachi’s police surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed had not been so blunt in noting deficiencies in the initial postmortem — Mir Raza Ali’s death might have continued to be tr