KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court reserved its decision on Wednesday on an application seeking to record testimonies of important witnesses, including the law enforcement and intelligence agencies’ officers, who had probed high-profile murder case of renowned rights activist Perween Rahman.

Rahman, who dedicated her life for development of impoverished neighbourhoods, was gunned down near her office in Orangi Town on March 13, 2013.

Five accused — Abdul Raheem Swati, his son Mohammad Imran Swati and three co-accused: Ayaz Shamzai aka Swati, Amjad Hussain Khan and Ahmed Khan aka Ahmed Ali aka Pappu Kashmiri — have been charged with the high-profile murder.

On Wednesday, the matter came up before the ATC-VII judge, who is conducting trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, when the five detained accused were produced from the prison.

The judge took up an application filed by the complainant, Aquila Ismail, requesting the court to summon around 20 witnesses for recording their statements against the accused persons in the present case.

Her counsel, Salahuddin Panhwar, argued that the witnesses included the senior officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence, the Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, the Federal Investigation Agency, the Rangers and police.

He explained that these high-ranking officers were either heads or members of five join investigation teams, constituted from time to time by the provincial and federal governments on the directives of the Supreme Court, to probe into the murder case.

“These officers’ efforts led to arrest of all the accused persons and they (officers) had also interrogated them (accused). Therefore, their testimonies are important to record,” Mr Panhwar added.

After hearing arguments, the judge reserved his verdict on the plea to be pronounced on May 24 and adjourned the hearing.

‘Land grabbers and extortionists’

In March, the fifth JIT report was filed with the court, revealing that Perween Rahman had named “land grabbers and extortionists” for trying to illegally occupy the land of office of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in an interview conducted by journalist Fahad Deshmukh aired internationally two years before she was allegedly killed by the same group.

The JIT’s head, DIG Babur Bakht Qureshi said that the team had not only examined the already available record but also probed the case with regard to suspected involvement of the water and land mafia in the killing of Perween Rahman.

“The team had interrogated politicians, journalists and land developers among the people interrogated during the course of fresh investigation into the case”, it had added.

The report stated that slain Perween Rahman in an interview aired internationally had mentioned having a dispute with the accused, Rahim Swati, who wanted to set up a karate centre on the land of the office of the Orangi Pilot Project.

In the interview, Perween Rahman had called Rahim Swati as “land grabber and extortionist” and stated that the latter wanted to illegally occupy the land of the OPP’s office, the report added.

The probing team concluded that in the light of the evidence and statements of the witnesses it had emerged that Perween Rahman was murdered by Rahim Swati and his accomplices.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2021