Perween Rahman murder case: Two years on, investigators unsure if culprits in country or abroad

Main suspect Rahim Sawati may have escaped to Malakand, police suspect

KARACHI:

Two years have passed since the brutal murder of Orangi Pilot Project director Perween Rahman and the law enforcers are unsure if the culprits fled the country or are still residing here.

These revelations were made in a recent investigation report submitted by DIG West to the Supreme Court. Rahman was shot dead allegedly by four unknown gunmen in Karachi's Pirabad locality on March 13, 2013, ending her 23-year-long career fighting for basic rights for residents of slums.

Following her murder, the police claimed that a Taliban operative, Qari Bilal, was involved and that he was gunned down during an encounter.

In April last year, the apex court ordered the authorities to investigate the case afresh when a judicial probe carried out on request of the human rights groups revealed that the police had manipulated the investigations. Ever since, DIG West submits regular progress reports to the SC.

Progress so far

In his fresh report, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, the DIG said that 13 sessions have so far been conducted by the joint interrogation team, which was constituted by the provincial home department on July 15, last year. The last session, held on August 10, was attended by the representatives of the police, the intelligence agencies, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Rangers and the investigation officers of all the connected cases.

According to the report, the accused Rahim Sawati, the main suspect in the murder, hailed from Malakand Agency so they approached Malakand division DIG to arrest him.

A regional police officer in Swat's Saidu Sharif area wrote a letter on August 7, in which he quoted the Swat district police claiming that another accused, Said Rehman, a resident of Kabal, was associated with the Taliban. In the past insurgency, Rehman and his family migrated to an unknown location and their house in Kabal was demolished by the security forces. The report added that the investigators are trying to reach the regional police of Malakand to determine whether or not Rehman and Sawati is the same person.

The DIG pointed out that Sawati's son, Imran, has been arrested. "He [Imran] disclosed that his father has gone [to] the UAE," stated the report. The investigators wrote to the FIA Headquarters to obtain Sawati's travel history, which showed that the accused has not left the country.

Moreover, Manghopir and Pirabad police conducted raids to arrest the other suspects, Amjad Afridi, Ayaz and Shaldad, based on the information provided by suspects Bilal alias Tension and Ahmed Ali alias Pappu Kashmiri. Eight criminals who were arrested by Pirabad police in other cases were also interrogated. "But no clues about the culprits could be traced," the report added.

Technical monitoring

According to the DIG's report, other agencies are helping monitor the movements of Swati. "He is a very shrewd character and keeps on changing his cellphone numbers as well as IMEIs," said the report. "His technical surveillance has continued since September 2014. Ever, since he has changed as many as 10 cell numbers and eight IMEIs, which are presently found silent [sic]."

Transfers

The DIG pointed out that SSP Pir Muhammad Shah was nominated as the investigation officer of the case by the Supreme Court on July 6 but he has been transferred and posted as Khairpur SSP now. Therefore, it is requested that District West operations SSP may be nominated, he added.

Adjournment requests

Meanwhile, the DIG West also filed an adjournment application, stating that he is on leave to go to Peshawar due to death of his close relative. Crime Investigation Agency Karachi's DIG will attend the hearings on his behalf.

On the other hand, the petitioners' lawyer Raheel Kamran Sheikh, also  cited health reasons for his future absence from court and requested the case to be fixed for hearing at any convenient date. The bench, comprising justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim, allowed these requests and adjourned the hearing, which will be held after a month.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2015.