In a landmark decision, an anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced four people to life imprisonment in the murder case of social activist and the director of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) director Perween Rahman. It took eight years for the court to book the killers with three facing 57 years and six months imprisonment and one 50 years as well as fine of Rs200,000 on each of them. The court ruled that no influential person or any tycoon were found to be involved in the case.
It is pertinent to note that Rahman was a voice for hundreds of urban poor who are abandoned by the state as they reside in katchi abadis of the metropolis. The abadis that are declared ‘illegal’ only for real estate tycoons and landgrabbers to encroach upon them and construct multi-storey buildings to house the elite. It is then a wonder that the case was given an ethnic angle with the Joint Investigation Team mentioning “the motive behind her murder was to grab the OPP office land. The accused were Pashtun and could not tolerate a Bihari lady heading a major organisation in the predominantly Pashtun and Afghan area,” in its 2020 report.
Nonetheless, the court’s judgment on Friday provides justice to Rahman who had devoted her life to ensure that deprived communities were given their due rights in the face of the rising hold of land mafia in Karachi. Even today, eight years after her assassination in 2013 the knowledge and experience these communities gained from Rahman’s brainchild the OPP continue to benefit them. However, the fact that the judgment comes in the same year the Supreme Court itself had ordered for residential complexes to be reduced to debris isn’t lost on anyone. The apex court’s decision to raze down houses at the sidelines of Orangi and Gujjar nullah, as well as the demolition of Nasla Tower under the ongoing anti-encroachment drive in the provincial capital have rendered thousands homeless.
People like Rahman only come into the forefront in the absence of state assistance. Her tragic death was a brutal reminder of how individuals working for the plight of the poor are silenced in broad daylight. The court’s decision on Friday should act as a catalyst for the state to work on the path Rahman had started. It is after all on the state to provide for all citizens, irrespective of their class, creed or gender.
