The counsel for the sister of noted social worker Parween Rahman, who was murdered in 2013, told an antiterrorism court on Wednesday that Abdul Raheem Swati planned the killing with the help of the now banned Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan over a piece of disputed land in Pirabad.

Swati, an alleged land grabber, is one of five men accused of murdering Rahman, who dedicated her life for development of impoverished neighbourhoods. She was shot dead in Orangi Town in 2013; she was 55.

Her sister Aquila Ismail is the complainant in the case, a hearing of which was taken by on Wednesday when her lawyer Faisal Siddiqui presented final arguments, reported Naeem Sahoutara of Dawn.

Siddiqui told the court that Swati recorded his confessional in front of SSP Akhtar Farooqui in which he claimed that local Awami National Party leaders had hired Taliban militants to murder Rahman. Siddiqui said this confessional "was a legally admissible piece of evidence equal to a confessional statement recorded before a judicial magistrate."

In an interview to journalist Fahad Desmukh in 2011 for US broadcaster PRI, Rahman had named Swati as a “land grabber and extortionist”, who was trying to occupy land reserved for an OPP office.

Siddiqui, in his arguments on Wednesday, said that in his confessional statement Swati also said the local ANP leaders wanted to build a karate centre near the OPP office but Rahman refused.

All the accused persons met at Swati's house in January 2013 wherein they planned the murder and hired members of the TTP for the murder, Siddiqui said citing Swati's confessional.

The lawyer also added that following the murder, Swati escaped to Swat but was eventually arrested.

The judge will next hear final arguments from the accuseds' lawyers on September 6.

Two JIT reports were commissioned by the Sindh Government to look into the murder but in 2018, the Supreme Court asked for a new JIT to be formed afterAquila Ismail said that the previous ones failed to investigate the case properly.

Ismail told the JIT that she believes her sister was targeted due to her work which was primarily against the interests of the land and water mafia.

“Perween Rahman was documenting the lands of Mohammad Khan Colony, Gadap, Malir, Keamari etc which was not in the interest of the land-grabbers,” the complainant said and believed that the “land-grabbers have killed her," Ismail is quoted as saying.

In related news, a movie about Rahman's life Into the Dust was released on Amazon Prime on August 24. It celebrates the social workers life and commitment to bettering the lives of improvished communities in Karachi.