A joint investigative team (JIT) formed to probe the motive behind the murder of Perween Rehman, the director of Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), Karachi, submitted a final report before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, DawnNewsTV reported.

In the report, the investigators observed that the land mafia clearly benefited from the murder of Rahman. However, they failed to establish any substantial link between the land mafia and Rahman’s killers.

During any murder probe, the first thing that merits investigation is who the greatest beneficiary would be from the victim's death, the report reads.

The OPP director was gathering data on Karachi's goths (areas which do not fall under the administration of any government body).

According to the report, the land mafia clearly benefited from the murder of Rahman. The activist was gathering data on Karachi's goths (areas which do not fall under the administration of any government body).

After Rahman's murder, documentation of data from the goths came to a halt. The documentation was meant to serve as a deterrent for the land mafia's land-grabbing attempts, as it would provide the residents with property rights.

Earlier in March, the JIT stated in its interim report that the linking of Qazi Bilal, believed to be a senior commander of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan who was reportedly killed in a police encounter on March 14, 2013 — a day after the murder of Rehman — with the murder as prime suspect was in all probability false.

Rehman was going home from her office when unidentified assailants approached her car on a motorcycle on Manghopir Road near Banaras Flyover and opened fire. She received gunshot wounds in her neck and was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital by her driver where she died.

The JIT report contended that the JIT found the accounts of Sub-Inspector Ashfaq Baloch and former SHO of Peerabad police station Abdul Moeed about linking Qari Bilal with the murder simply unbelievable.

According to the report, Qari Bilal was probably killed over an internal dispute between Taliban factions but his body was subsequently picked up by the two police officials who claimed that he was killed in an encounter.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...