The sentencing of four of the five accused of murdering Orangi Pilot Project director Parveen Rehman in 2013, to life imprisonment, and the fifth to seven years’ imprisonment, probably does not end the story, for there are still a number of appellate remedies available to the accused. Considering the magnitude of the sentences, and the number of the accused, it is likelier than not that these remedies will be availed, and the case taken all the way to the Supreme Court. However, for the heirs, it should be recognized that an important stage has been passed, and the trial court, an Anti-Terrorist Court, has convicted the killers and sentenced them. It will arouse some concern that this stage took eight years to reach, and the broader question of legal reform remains to be handled.
However, the motive of the killers, taking possession of the Orangi Pilot Project’s office, concealed the fact that Ms Rehman was killed because she spoke out against criminal elements that had taken over the politics of Karachi, and misused that in the real estate business. She had been speaking out against extortion, illegal possession (the qabza mafia) and other ills bedeviling the real estate business. The punishment meted out to the culprits should begin to serve as a deterrent against those who had engaged in illegal practices without fear of punishment.
Since Ms Rehman’s murder, Karachi may have been freed from the grip of those who had the city in its grip, but the whole country is now in the grip of those who want to suppress all voices of opposition. Perhaps they might learn from this example that justice may take time overcoming the culprits, but overcome them it does. The fear of skeletons being dug out of cupboards should give pause to all those who try to break the law, what to speak of those who are guilty of the unsolved crimes that have been committed in the recent past.
