SHC orders Parveen Rehman murder case decision within two months

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday ordered to decide the case of the killing of Orangi Pilot Project Director Parveen Rehman in Karachi within two months.

A bench of the court headed by the chief justice hearing the bail petitions of the accused.

Ms. Rehman was assassinated in Karachi on March 13, 2013.

The counsels of the accused appeared before the court and pleaded for approval of bail petitions of their clients.

The chief justice in his remarks said that the persons like Parveen Rehman are rare. She was murdered but the case yet to be decided, he said. The lawyers should have some care about the good people of the society, the chief justice observed.

DSP Khalid Khan appeared before the bench on behalf of the legal branch of the police.

The police provided details of the witnesses to the court. According to the details there were 29 witnesses in the case and still 10 have to testify before the court. The notices have been issued to the witnesses and the police have assured them of security, the department informed the court.

Joint Investigation Team Report

A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing the killing of Orangi Pilot Project Director Parveen Rehman had termed the land mafia as the “clearest beneficiaries” of the distinguished social worker’s murder in Karachi’s Orangi Town in 2013.

In the report submitted to the Supreme Court, the members of the JIT said Ms. Rehman and her organisation had made it “more difficult to grab the land” with documentation of informal settlements in Karachi’s outskirts.

Parveen Rehman was gunned down in a targeted attack near the Banaras Flyover in Orangi Town in March 2013. She was a vocal opponent of the land and water mafia in Karachi.

The Police had arrested the prime suspect in the case, Rahim Swati, on May 7, 2016, during a shootout in Sultanabad of Karachi.

The JIT included officials of the Federal Investigation Agency, Rangers and intelligence agencies.