ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was assured on Monday that the principal accused in the mysterious murder of Orangi Pilot Project director Perween Rehman would be arrested soon.

DIG Sindh Sultan Ali Khawaja and SSP Karachi Pir Mohammad Shah informed a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk that they had contacted the Malakand police through some mediators for the arrest of Naeem Swati.

Ms Rehman was killed in Karachi on March 13, 2013. She was going home from her office by a car when men on a motorbike opened fire on her on the Main Manghopir Road near Banaras Flyover. She suffered bullet injuries in her neck and was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where she died.

The DIG and SSP said the mediators had assured the Sindh police that Naeem Swati, who frequently changed his whereabouts from Karachi to Malakand and back, would soon surrender after getting assurance that he would not be killed in a police encounter.

Advocate Raheel Kamran Sheikh, representing the petitioners, requested the court to order the authorities to provide security to Aquila Ismail, a sister of Ms Perween, because she had been receiving threats. The family was also being pressurised to withdraw the case, the counsel said.

The senior police officers admitted before the court that two armed strangers — a contractor and an allegedly Navy constable — had intruded into the house of Ms Ismail and dropped a chit. But when they were arrested it was revealed that they had come in connection with some money dispute.

The bench expressed its resentment over letting the individuals go without recording the statement of Ms Ismail and made it clear that the court would never allow anyone to take back the case. The court regretted that police had failed to arrest the culprits despite the fact that the case had been pending since 2013.

It ordered the Sindh police to provide security to the family of Ms Rehman and submit a comprehensive report on progress in the case and about the arrest of the principal accused.

The case will be taken up on July 28.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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