Orangi Pilot Project’s Rahman was shot dead in Karachi in March this year. PHOTO: FILE
With more than 5,000 signatures on a petition filed in the Supreme Court, Karachi activists hope the judges will take up the murder case of Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) director Perween Rahman.
These signatures were submitted in the attorney general’s office on Tuesday nearly two months after a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Tassadaq Hussain Jilani, admitted a petition on Rahman’s murder case. Setting aside the objections raised by the registrar’s office, the Supreme Court admitted the plea filed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the citizens of Karachi. The petition, filed on Tuesday, urges the apex court to take up the case on an urgent basis.
OPP’s Rahman was killed in Karachi in March this year allegedly due to the enmities she made through her work - she worked extensively on the city’s drainage network and water hydrants. A charge sheet on her murder has, however, yet to be submitted in court. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that Rahman’s murderers were still at large and they were being sheltered allegedly by a political party.
The petition aims to draw attention to justice denied to a person who dedicated three decades of her life to redress grievances of the poor in the face of land grabbers, claimed one of the petitions. “Her killers, those who pulled the trigger and those who ordered it, remain at large,” said the director of Akhtar Hameed Khan Resource Centre, Fayyaz Baqir. “No one is there to guard those who dedicate their lives to public service.”
Apart from Baqir, human rights activist Zohra Yusuf and journalist Zubaida Mustafa have also submitted petitions. They have cited the provincial and the federal governments and the provincial police as respondents.
Her works
Rahman was compiling land records of settlements on the fringes of Karachi, which were vanishing into the city’s vastness because of the ever-increasing demand from thousands of families migrating to the metropolis.
According to her colleagues, she had been receiving death threats from land grabbers. In one of her interviews, conducted in 2011, she had stated in detail the nature of land grabbing activities in Karachi and the threats received by her and her colleagues.
Naseemur Rehman, one of her colleagues, told The Express Tribune that if they compromise on this murder of a community worker today, then nobody will dare stand up for the uplift of the poor strata of society. “We will not let this case die in the files,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th,2013.
COMMENTS (16)
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@M. Emad: Sir...you are spot on. 100 percent true. We are no facing the same persecution which my forefathers faced in India except the rulers have been replaced with Sindhi Waderas masquerading as democratic junta.
You guys are fools. Have you ever really seen anyone getting punished by courts lately? Ever?
Courts in this country ought to be called 'letter to the editor section' only.
I bet even if you are caught with bloodied hands and knife dripping with blood....you can get away it ....and we have all seen in Karachi, people have indeed gotten away.
Stop deluding yourself.
@Dilip: It was a shame that they left. It was a great loss for Pakistan and a great gain for India....
In which civilized country does someone working on drainage networks and water hydrants get murdered for making enemies! The violence in our national and urban politics, or due to sectarianism, is deplorable but at least understandable. It is however immensely saddening that even working on local civic projects is akin to risking one's life now.
Those who took Parveen's life, should have allready been brought to book. She had to be very very brave, courageous, selfless, person to live a life as she did. When precious lives as hers can be extinguished, there is really very little hope for any improvement, who in their right mind would want to take on the mafia, take on criminals, take on all sorts for a good cause. The government has to give all it can to secure this city from these criminals.
It sickens me to the soul to see a comment like M.Emaad's, and more over its the most recommended comment also. Its people like you who have destroyed the humanity throughout the human history. Be it Hitler in Germany, Columbus and company in North America, Spanish and Portegues in South America, Belgium in Congo, Shiv Sena in India, the Budhists of Myanmar, Bangla nationalists of Bangladesh or Qadir Magsis in Pakistan, you all follow same mentality.
Beharis loss lives for the creation of Pakistan in 1947, then saving the federation of Pakistan in 1971 and then in Karachi (Qasba and Aligrah carnage) in 1986. They are intelligent, energetics and hard working people with highest literacy rate but they are punished for their loyalty with the state of Pakistan. The stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh are dispossessed by the state and are forced to live in sub human conditions for the past 4 decades. Ahkter Hameed Khan and Eqbal Ahmed and many others made immense contributions, but were not appropriately acknowledged. This lady had ample opportunities to take up much lucrative positions elsewhere, she chose to be among her people and serve them, may Allah bless her soul for the sacrifices she made (ameen)
Where is the Petition? I want to sign and share widely!
@M.Emad. The Hindu (Sindhi's) left Pakistan in 1947 and went to India. Today they have a presence in almost all the major cities in India. The majority of them are in Mumbai. They are not called "Muhajirs". They are Indian. Please accept the former Biharis as Pakistani and not Muhajirs.
let me add my name to the 5,000 petitioners
@"M. Emad". i feel disgusted to use that word "Mohajir" for the very people, who by their efforts made one city of Pakistan, its symbol, its very economical backbone. and I am amazed why others keeps on insisting calling them as "Mohajirs" evern after 60 years.
@M. Emad: You cannot single out any community. There are good, bad & ugly guys in each society, community or country. Her murderers should be brought to justice swiftly.
@M. Emad: you have a diseased mind infected with the cancer of irrationality and fever of make belief reality. I hope you seek treatment at your earliest convenience.....
Biharis (Mohajirs) are like the 'wandering Jews' in Indian subcontinent. For 'unknown' reason they left their native place (in India) in 1947 and occupy lands of other nations in Sindh and Bangladesh. They lack leadership. Perween Rahman’s life (& death) and the history of Bihari community (1946-2013) are intertwined.
What happens to the murderers of Parween Rehman will be an indication of what is to become of Pakistan..... I hope all the good work she is done is not in vain..