Murder of Parveen Rehman Anti-terrorism court sentences four accused to life imprisonment twice

An anti-terrorism court in Karachi has sentenced four accused to life imprisonment twice in connection with the murder of social activist Parveen Rehman. The four accused Rahim Swati, Ahmad Khan, Amjad and Ayaz Swati have also been fined Rs 2 lakh each.

social worker Parveen Rehman was shot dead
social worker Parveen Rehman was shot dead





A fifth convict, Imran Swati, has been sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs 200,000 for aiding other convicts in the murder.

After dozens of hearings in the murder case of Parveen Rehman from the Magistrate to the Supreme Court in the last eight years, the trial court finally reserved its verdict on October 17, which is today, October 28.

It may be recalled that on March 13, 2013, social worker Parveen Rehman was shot dead by two armed men on a motorcycle while going to his office. The incident took place on Manghopir Road in Karachi.

The accused managed to escape from the scene while the 55-year-old social worker was rushed by his driver to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries. He was shot in the neck.

Salahuddin Panhwar, a lawyer for Parveen Rehman's sister Aqila Ismail, the plaintiff in the case, told the BBC he was satisfied with the decision.

On the other hand, when the verdict was announced, the convicts were brought to the court from jail but their lawyers were not present in the court. The case was heard in the Judicial Complex inside Karachi Central Jail.


Who was Parveen Rehman?

Parveen Rehman was born on January 22, 1957 in Dhaka, the capital of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and then migrated to Karachi to witness the gruesome scenes of the massacre that took place during the fall of Dhaka.

Probably a factor as to why they're doing so poorly in Karachi. I walked around.

Parveen Rehman received his early education in Dhaka but obtained his BA degree in Engineering (Architecture) from Dao College of Engineering and Technology, Karachi in 1981, and the following year he became the mainstay of life for the poor in Karachi's slums. She took a job as an unpaid intern at the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), an NGO working for the provision of services.

During his three-decade career, Parveen Rehman documented Karachi's old goths, illegally operated water hydrants and large-scale illegal encroachments on government land.

She became the director of the Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Institute in 1988, and was responsible for education, youth training, water supply and safe housing programs in the slums.

Knock on the door of the Supreme Court of the Human Rights Commission

The day after the tragic incident of Parveen Rehman's assassination, the then DIG of Karachi Police Javed Odho had claimed during a press conference that one of the terrorists who allegedly killed Parveen Rehman, identified as Qari Bilal. Ashfaq Hussain Baloch, SHO of Manghopir police station, was killed during a confrontation.

But six months after the incident, law enforcement agencies failed to arrest the "real" culprits and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan knocked on the Supreme Court's door to seek justice. A bench headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk appointed a District and Sessions Judge of Karachi to conduct a judicial inquiry into the incident.

The investigating judge revealed in his report that the facts (or evidence) of the murder were immediately distorted by the police. The Judicial Inquiry also recommended that the murder case of Parveen Rehman be re-investigated by a competent, independent and honest police officer.

In view of the recommendations of the Judicial Inquiry, the Supreme Court directed the Sindh Home Department to form a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) comprising officers of various law enforcement agencies to re-investigate the murder.

In November 2014, a senior police officer told the Supreme Court that Parveen Rehman had drawn up a map of government lands, which had been illegally occupied by people belonging to different political parties.

JIT arrested Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri from Mansehra murder parveen rehman
JIT arrested Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri from Mansehra murder parveen rehman

Arrests in Parveen Rehman murder case

The JIT arrested Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri from Mansehra, an accused allegedly involved in the murder of Parveen Rehman in 2015, and another accused Rahim Swati from Karachi in 2016. He had in the past been elected councilor by the Awami National Party from the area where the Orangi Pilot Project office was located. He was allegedly operating an illegal water hydrant on Mangho Road.

Police later arrested Rahim Swati's sons Imran Swati, Ayaz Shamzai alias Swati and Muhammad Amjad Hussain Shah.

In March 2018, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi indicted the five arrested accused but they denied the charge and decided to fight the case.

According to the prosecution, the accused Ayaz Shamzai and Rahim Swati lived near the Orangi Pilot Project office in Peerabad and allegedly asked Parveen Rehman to open a karate center in their office space but he refused. Was

According to the prosecution, after the denial of Parveen Rehman, the accused held a meeting at Rahim Swati's house in January 2013 in which his assassination was planned and later the accused allegedly arrested Musa alias Mahfooz, a local leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Allah alias Bhulu paid money and had them killed.

According to Salahuddin Panhoor, lawyer of Parveen Rehman's sister Aqeela Ismail, who is the plaintiff in his murder case, the Sindh government formed four JITs on the orders of the Supreme Court in a span of seven years, but her client turned on the Sindh police. Expressing distrust, the apex court was asked to direct the federal government to form a new JIT comprising the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to re-investigate the murder of his sister.


In April 2018, the JIT revealed that the investigation had proved that the murder of Parveen Rehman had clearly benefited the land mafia in Karachi.

Aqila Ismail's lawyer Salahuddin Panhwar says that Rahim Swati had confessed in his confessional statement to senior superintendent of police Akhtar Farooqi during his detention that Parveen Rehman was killed by local ANP leaders on Tuesday. Had done

"This confession was recorded before the SSP of the police under section 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. In rare cases, this happens because the confession of the accused is usually judicial under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code," he said. He is confined before a magistrate.

"But this confessional statement made before a police officer is as important to the law as a statement made before a judicial magistrate."

In April 2018, the JIT revealed that the investigation had proved that the murder of Parveen Rehman had clearly benefited the land mafia in Karachi.

Jit april 2018 investigation murderof parveen rehman karachi


Trial adjourned

A Karachi anti-terrorism court hearing the case in December 2018 rejected Aqila Ismail's plea to summon the heads and members of the five JITs and record their statements. The case should not be decided without it as the statements of various law enforcement officers who were involved in these JITs are important evidence.

Earlier, the accused, while recording their statements, once again denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the "false" charges.

However, Aqila Ismail filed a petition in the Sindh High Court seeking restraint of the trial court from ruling on the case without recording the statements of JITs officers. On this, the Sindh High Court restrained the trial court from hearing and deciding the final arguments in the case till the final decision on the application.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. His lawyer was about to enter a crucial stage of hearing the final arguments from the defense. Therefore, the final arguments could not be heard during this period.

In September 2020, the Supreme Court directed the trial court judge to complete the trial within a month after the completion of the investigation by the Fifth JIT.

But the investigating officer of the case submitted the final challan to the trial court in February 2021 based on the JIT report.