ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of the case seeking reinvestigation into the mysterious murder of director Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) Karachi and internationally renowned social worker Perween Rahman.

But before disposing of the case, a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial also ordered the Sindh police to file the two JIT reports, one headed by SSP Omar Shahid Hamid and the other headed by director FIA Baber Bakht Qureshi in the Anti-Terrorism Court No 13 at Karachi where five accused in the murder of Ms Rahman were facing trial. The reports should be filed within a period of two weeks.

The apex court also directed the trial court to proceed with the matter expeditiously in accordance with law.

The bench had taken up a case relating to the assassination of Ms Rahman, who was killed on March 13, 2013 in cold blood on the way home from her OPP office.

Orders Sindh police to file JIT reports in ATC within two weeks

Some unidentified assailants approached her car on a motorbike on the main Manghopir Road near the Banaras flyover and opened fire, as a result of which she received bullet injuries in her neck.

She was rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital by her driver where she succumbed to her injuries and died.

Advocate Raheel Kamran Sheikh is representing Aquila Ismail, the sister of the slain Ms Rahman before the Supreme Court.

On Monday, the apex court also disposed of a review petition challenging the Sept 24, 2020 order whereby the trial court was directed to conclude the proceedings within one month.

Advocate Sheikh argued that the Sept 24 order was obtained in his absence by misleading the court as the investigation reports of the two JITs constituted pursuant to the orders passed in the petition were yet to be filed in the trial court and additional evidence was yet to be presented before the trial court. The counsel requested to order the trial court to conclude the trial otherwise the entire proceedings before the apex court in the last two years would be an exercise in futility.

Advocate Faisal Siddiqi in a connected petition while assailing the order passed by the Sindh High Court which had rejected an application by Aquila Ismail to summon members of the JIT as witnesses, argued that the high court did not entertain criminal revision but also restrained the trial court from passing the final judgement till decision of the high court.

Senior counsel and president SCBA Latif Afridi, while representing the accused in the trial, objected to the maintainability of the petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution as well as intervention of the apex court in the matter of criminal investigation.

But the apex court asked the counsel what objection he had to the filing of the JIT reports to the trial court and continuation of the proceedings in accordance with law. The counsel however could not object and insisted on fixation of the time frame for the decision of the trial by the ATC.

The Supreme Court refrained from fixing any time frame, however, it directed the trial court that the orders passed by it for the protection of OPP staff will continue and allowed the petitioners to approach it if any occasion arises.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2021