New JIT to probe Perween Rehman’s murder

The Sindh government approved a joint investigation team (JIT) on Saturday to investigate the murder of social activist Perween Rehman, who was shot dead in Karachi in March 2013, a notification said.

Rehman was the director of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), one of Pakistan’s most successful non-profit programmes to help local communities escape from poverty, when she was gunned down by four men near the Banaras flyover in Orangi Town in March 2013.

She was a vocal activist and had been documenting land use across Karachi, a daring effort which was said to have antagonised the city's powerful land-grabbing criminal syndicates.

Rehman had become head of the OPP, founded by development expert Akhtar Hameed Khan, in 999. She had become associated with the project to encourage communities to maintain their own systems for sanitation, health, housing and micro-finance.

The new JIT has been formed at the recommendation of Inspector General of Police AD Khowaja. Officials of the Federal Investigation Agency, the Sindh Rangers and intelligence agencies will be part of the eight-member team.

According to the notification, the joint investigation team will question the arrested suspects anew and submit its report to the home department in 15 days. It will also ascertain if “the police officers had mala-fidely manipulated the closure of the murder case”.