KARACHI: Police authorities have admitted that no clue has been found so far in the high-profile murder case of Perween Rehman and tagged investigation of another last year case as ‘pending’, dashing hopes of many of those awaiting a positive outcome of the investigations amid the ongoing and much-publicised targeted operation against criminals, hit men associated with political parties and gangsters, it emerged on Tuesday.

As the police investigators remained unable to trace key suspects, their motive and association with any group, they did not make any arrest in the murder cases of the Orangi Pilot Project director and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Zohra Shahid Hussain despite the fact that each targeted killing plunged the city into fear bringing two political parties at loggerheads and attracted uproar from the civil society.

Ms Rehman, a model of community service, had come under fatal armed attack on her car shortly after she had left her office in Qasba Colony on March 13, 2013, while Ms Hussain, vice president of PTI’s Sindh chapter, was gunned down at the entrance to her house in Defence on May 18 just hours before a re-poll at 43 polling stations of NA-250 on Election Commission of Pakistan’s order over massive rigging complaints in the May 11 general elections.

Senior police officials came up with brief details about the findings of murder investigations in their ‘progress reports’ recently filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan at a hearing of the Karachi law and order suo motu case.

Regarding the PTI leader murder case, the SP investigation (south) in his report cited several measures taken by the investigation team and ruled out armed mugging attempt as the motive for the killing. He hinted at deliberated murder but concluded that during investigation “several suspects were interrogated thoroughly but no clue are achieved so far”.

“On seeing pistol, the deceased tried to hand over her purse to the accused but he (accused) pushed away the purse and started firing upper her,” stated the progress report, which was sought by the Supreme Court of Pakistan during the Karachi suo motu case hearing by a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jillani.

The killing of PTI’s senior woman leader just hours before a re-poll at 43 polling stations in the national assembly constituency (NA-250) had not only sowed fear into city’s district south but also brought the party at loggerheads with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement when PTI chief Imran Khan directly blamed the rival party enjoying largest electoral mandate of Karachi for her killing.

Nothing very different was mentioned by the DIG (west) while filing a ‘progress report’ about the investigation of the murder of OPP director Ms Rehman. While the report cited police findings about the killing of a suspect in Manghopir police encounter the very second day of her killing, the claim has yet to be established. The report stated: “The accused arrested in other cases of targeted killing were also interrogated but the culprits in this case could not be traced.”

It is worth noting that the investigation into her murder had already been disposed of by ‘tagging final report A class’.

The case was ‘reopened’ but police investigation did not move forward, according to the police who stated it was pending investigation while promising early arrests of the culprits. The city’s leading social worker who worked for Orangi Town, said to be Asia’s largest slum project, was attacked on her way home from office in Qasba Colony on March 13, 2013.

The report filed by the DIG west stated, “Earlier the case was disposed of as final report ‘A’ Class (untraced) vide Final Report No. 167/2013 dated 05-11-2013 due to National Judicial Policy 2009. Later on investigation into the subject case was reopened and is pending investigation. All available resources are being utilised for the arrest of perpetrators at earliest.”