Four awarded double life imprisonment in Parveen Rehman murder case

• Parveen Rehman was murdered on March 23, 2013, in Karachi.
• Fifth accused awarded 7 years of jail time for being an accomplice.
• Two TTP militants shot down the social activist for Rs4 million.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday sentenced four accused to back-to-back life imprisonment in the murder case of social activist Parveen Rehman.

The ATC sentenced Ayaz Swati, Raheem Swati, Amjad Hussain Khan, and Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri to double life imprisonment after they were found guilty of her murder.

The fifth accused, Imran Swati, was awarded a sentence of seven years for being an accomplice in the murder of Rehman.

The murder

Parveen, who was a renowned urban planner and social activist, was murdered in a drive-by shooting on her car at the Banaras flyover a few minutes after she left her office for home on March 13, 2013.

The case was initially registered at the Pirabad police station under Sections 302 of premeditated murder and 34 common intention of the Pakistan Penal Code. However, Supreme Court ordered a judicial inquiry which was conducted by the then-district and session judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon. Thereafter Section 7 — the punishment of acts of terrorism — of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 was added to the FIR.

Investigation into the murder case revealed that Rehman, who was the director of the Orangi Pilot Project, was murdered by hitmen for Rs4 million.

A joint investigation team (JIT) was formed to probe the murder of the social worker. 

Accused Hussain had told the team that Raheem Swati and local ANP leader Ayaz Swati were asking Rehman to hand over a piece of land to them. 

However, after she refused, the political party's leader paid a banned organisation to murder her, he told the JIT.

The investigations further revealed that the plan to murder her was made at Raheem's residence in January 2013, with Hussain, Ayaz Swati, and Ahmed Khan in attendance.

The accused tasked two militants — Mehfozullah alias "Bhaloo" and Moosa — of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) to kill her in exchange for Rs4 million.

Hussain and the other accused surveilled Rehman for two months and provided information regarding her activities and whereabouts to the militants of the banned outfit.

After they had ample information about her, both the militants shot her down on March 23, 2013.

Hussain told the JIT that after the murder, Raheem did not pay the militants. Following this, the banned TTP members carried out a grenade attack on Raheem's house.