KARACHI: Police officers investigating the murder case of Orangi Pilot Project director Perween Rehman told her family that they got hold of a phone conversation in which a man gave orders for Perween’s murder.

This was revealed by her elder sister and teacher, Aquila Ismail, at an event held at Szabist on Monday to honour the life and work of the social activist.

But “despite making it this far, the police have not been able to make any headway in arresting anyone,” she said. This particular snippet of information was revealed by the end of the event during a panel discussion on Perween Rehman’s life and work.

Ms Rehman was shot dead in March 2013.

Ms Ismail, while speaking about the case, said there had been half a dozen hearings in the Supreme Court. “The case is taking minuscule steps but we are determined to get to the root of the problem. For instance, who wanted her dead and why? Why was it necessary to kill her? Whoever did that could have threatened her and we, as a family, would have taken her out of the city. Slowly, but surely, we’ll get to the answers, I believe,” she said.

Showing her surprise over the “swift action by the police”, she said she still didn’t understand the killing of a suspected Taliban operative, Qari Bilal, in an encounter just a day after the OPP director was shot dead. “We were returning from her funeral when the news came in that Perween’s murder has been solved. We thought this was a cover-up. It simply means someone was backing the people or group who targeted her. We believe this backing continues till today,” she added.

Following the encounter, she said, any criminal who was killed in the encounter was said to be linked with Perween’s murder. “It came to a point that we reopened the case. The process is slow. During one of the hearings, the chief justice himself asked why four people were shot dead by the police when there were only two men on a motorbike who killed Perween?”

These and some other questions are still being asked by Ms Rehman’s family.

The earlier part of the event included readings on the works of two contemporary Urdu writers, Asad Mohammad Khan and Zeeshan Sahil.

Khan sahib’s ‘Tirlochan’ was read first.

Speaking about the story during the panel discussion, editor, writer and publisher Ajmal Kamal said: “Just like Perween, the character of Ain ul Haq in Asad sahib’s story wanted to help everyone. He wanted to gather all the problems and then fix them one by one. But a single person cannot do that and every person needs to play their part.” Select poems of Zeeshan Sahil were also read out that included Dehshatgard shayar, Footpath ke loag, Mujrim and Dadi amma ki theory.

In the middle of the event, a short documentary on the work of Perween Rehman was shown. It was a series of interviews she had given in 2006 and 2007 for a movement of the time, Sahil Bachao Tehreek. In the interviews, she spoke about the necessity of having natural spaces in the increasingly developing city. This development, as she said in one of the clips, is based on the model of Dubai and Singapore, which she added, “would not work for Karachi. Karachi should be developed the way it is naturally meant to be.” She also spoke about the land grabbing that she said was “aided and abetted by the institutions whose job is to protect it. In one of the clips, she said that around 84 per cent of the sewage water that goes into the sea is untreated. “Only 16 per cent of the water gets treated before being dumped into the sea.” At the same time, she added, around 340 million gallons of factory waste was dumped into in the sea.

Looking at the interviews and her work for the poor in the half an hour clip that encapsulated Ms Rehman’s 28-year professional career, Ms Ismail said: “Our quest is slow and arduous, but we’ll make sure to ask and uncover why she was murdered. We’d need your support for that.”

Head of social sciences department at Szabist Dr Riaz Shaikh said: “Perween could have chosen a privileged life through her work, but she didn’t. She dedicated her life to the cause of the OPP and we should make sure not to forget her struggles and the work she has done.”

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2015

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