An antiterrorism court has summoned the head of a joint investigation team which had grilled the accused persons charged with murdering Orangi Pilot Project head Perween Rahman for recording his testimony.
Five accused — Abdul Raheem Swati, his son Mohammad Imran Swati and three co-accused: Ayaz Shamzai aka Swati, Amjad Hussain Khan and Ahmed Khan aka Ahmed Ali aka Pappu Kashmiri — have been charged with murdering her.
Ms Rahman, who had dedicated her life for the development of impoverished localities, was gunned down near her office in Orangi Town on March 13, 2013.
The matter recently came up before ATC-VII, which is conducting trial of the five detained accused in the judicial complex inside the central prison.
Mugger gets 17-year imprisonment At the outset, an assistant director (legal) of the Federal Investigation Agency’s Counter-Terrorism Wing, Khalid Shaikh, produced three witnesses for recording their testimonies.
Deputy inspector general of the Counter-Terrorism wing Omar Shahid, the then head of the joint investigation team, appeared before the court and recorded his testimony.
He told the court that DSP Sultan Ahmed Panhwar of the Special Branch, who was a member of the joint investigation team, had died.
Therefore, he requested that the court record statement of another member of the JIT, Mazhar Iqbal Mashwani, officer in-charge of the Pakistan Base Terrorist Intelligence Group of the CTD.Allowing the request, the judge recorded testimony of Mr Mashwani.
Fahad Mohammad Deshmukh, a freelance journalist, who had interviewed Ms Rahman in the OPP office in December 2011, also appeared before the court and recorded his testimony.
The court was informed that another witness, Aijaz Ahmed Shaikh, an assistant director in the FIA/CTW, was unable to attend the court to record his testimony due to some domestic issues.
