KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has annulled the sentences of five accused in the murder case of Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) director and social activist Perween Rahman, overturning the anti-terrorism court’s December 17, 2021 convictions in the case.

The court ordered that the accused should be released if they are not wanted in other cases.

The judgment, a copy of which is available with Aaj news, extended the benefit of doubt to the accused and pointed out loopholes in the investigation and prosecution.

The ATC had handed down double life terms to the accused Raheem Swati, Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri, Amjad Hussain, and Ayaz Swati for shooting dead the OPP head near her office in the metropolis in 2013. The fifth accused Imran Swati, the son of Raheem Swati, was given seven years in jail.

The ATC verdict came at the end of a long series of proceedings that spanned over eight years.

The accused had challenged the ATC judgment before the high court.

In its judgment on Monday, the Sindh High Court found that the prosecution and investigation failed to connect the murder weapon — a pistol recovered from Qari Bilal who was killed in an encounter— with the five accused. The empty bullet shells found at the crime scene and the lead recovered from Perween’s car could not be connected “with any pistol belonging to the appellants as no pistol was recovered from them on their arrest,” the court ruled.

The judgment also discounted the value of JIT reports in the case saying that “a JIT report is no more than an opinion of an IO [investigation officer] and is not proof of any fact in terms of evidence before the trial court as only the court can determine guild or innocenence.” The judgment said that the trial court “erred in law on relying on such reports in convicting the appellants.”

Who was Perween Rehman and how justice eludes her

An NGO called Orangi Pilot Project was formed in 1980 to monitor illegal construction in Orangi Town.

Perween Rehman, an architect and urban planner, headed the project.

On March 23, 2013, she was traveling in her car from her office to home and when the car slowed down at a speed breaker near Pakhtun Market on Main Manghopir Road, suddenly unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire, according to her driver.

The driver immediately rushed her to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, but she scummed to her wounds.

The FIR of her murder was registered in the Pirabad police station. A day later, the police arrived to arrest the local leader of the banned organization, Qari Bilal, in connection with the investigation, but he was killed in an encounter, after which the case file was closed.

In April 2015, the Supreme Court itself took notice of the case and ordered to re-investigate it.

A JIT was formed on the order of the Supreme Court. The team arrested Rahim Swati from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the man confessed to the murder of Parween Rehman during the investigation.

The investigation into Rehman’s murder also revealed that hired assassins were promised Rs4 million for murdering her.

There were more arrests. One of the accused, Amjad Hussain alias Amjad Afridi, told the JIT that the accused Rahim Swati, who was already in custody by the time, and Ayaz Swati, a regional leader of Awami National Party, were demanding a piece of land from Parween Rehman to open a gym in the area.

On Parveen Rehman’s refusal, a plan was hatched at Rahim Swati’s house in January 2013 to kill her. Amjad Hussain, Ayaz Swati, Rahim Swati, and Ahmed alias Pappu took part in the planning, according to the investigation.

According to the accused, Rahim Swati contacted two regional commanders of the outlawed TTP, named Moosa and Mahfuzullah alias Bhalu, for the murder.

They agreed to kill Parween Rehman for Rs4 million.

Amjad Hussain and the other accused carried out the recce of Parween Rehman for two months and passed on the details to the banned outfit.

Moosa and Bhalu shot dead Parween Rehman in March, the investigators learned.

Accused Amjad Hussain told the JIT during the investigation that Rahim Swati had been attacked with a hand grenade at his house by the banned organization over his failure to pay Rs4 million.

On March 18, 2015, the police arrested Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri, the main accused involved in the murder from Mansehra, while Rahim Swati was also arrested from Manghopir.

Three trials were held in court and five joint investigation teams were formed during the course of the investigation and prosecution — the fifth JIT being constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court.