KARACHI: A suspect arrested last month ‘confessed’ to his involvement before a joint investigation team (JIT) in the murder of prominent social activist Perween Rahman, it emerged on Sunday.

Police had arrested Amjad Hussain in Ms Rahman’s murder case in Manghopir on Oct 24 and registered a case against him under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

Subsequently, a JIT was formed to probe the held suspect which completed its findings recently and submitted a report to the Sindh home department.

Ms Rahman was the director of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) whose office was located near the Qasba Mor roundabout in Sector 5-A of the area.

The accused told JIT members that his and Rahim Swati’s houses were located in front of the OPP office.

“Former president of the PS-96 constituency Ayaz Swati had a dialogue with Rahim Swati that they had to obtain the space from the OPP for the construction of a karate centre for youth of the area but despite their repeated requests, Ms Rahman refused to provide them the land,” sources quoted the accused telling the JIT.

He stated that the OPP director termed them Awami National Party’s (ANP) land grabbers which they considered an insult to their party.

The accused told the JIT members that in January 2013 a meeting was convened at Rahim Swati’s home in which he, Ayaz Swati and Ahmed alias Pappu Kashmiri participated and planned to kill Ms Rahman.

“Rahim Swati, using Ayaz’s mobile phone, called a local commander of the Taliban named Moosa and Mehfoozullah alias Bhaloo, who agreed to kill Ms Rahman. All three of us assured them of payment after completion of the task,” according to the statement of the accused.

On such a demand, Ayaz and Rahim directed Pappu to remain in touch with Moosa and Bhaloo.

Thereafter, the arrested accused, Rahim and Ayaz, started observing Ms Rahman’s arrival and departure times and duly informed Moosa and Bhaloo.

“On March 13, 2013, Moosa, Bhaloo and Pappu targeted Ms Rahman in front of Pakhtun Market at 7:30pm.”

The accused, Amjad Hussain, told the JIT that he and Ayaz were present at the time of the incident to provide support to the killers.

He further disclosed that Moosa informed Rahim the same evening that they had completed the task and he be paid as promised.

The accused stated that he and Ayaz went to the home of Rahim and informed him that Pappu, Moosa and Bhaloo had completed the assignment.

“During initial investigation by the police, he (Amjad Hussain) and other people of the vicinity recorded their statements to misguide the police.”

The accused further said that Rahim had informed him that Moosa contacted him (Rahim) a couple of days after the incident and demanded Rs4 million which were promised to him but Rahim failed to arrange the money.

Therefore, Moosa and his accomplices attacked Rahim Swati’s home with grenades.

Amjad added that he escaped to his native place after the attack but kept visiting his home in Karachi with different intervals and kept his movement limited.

Perween Rahman, who had devoted her life to the development of impoverished neighbourhoods across the country, was gunned down near her office in Orangi Town on March 13, 2013.

The very next day, police killed a Taliban operative named Qari Bilal in an encounter and claimed he was the murderer, resulting in the closure of the case.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan in April 2014 ordered the authorities to conduct a fresh probe into Ms Rahman’s murder after a judicial inquiry had revealed that police officers had manipulated the investigation.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2017

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