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print version‘Parween’s family threatened to withdraw the case’
by Haneen Rafi
KARACHI: With no effective measures taken by the authorities to check growing threats against the Orangi Pilot Project whose team was recently forced to stop work and relocate, the perpetrators have taken a step forward by visiting the house of slain OPP director Parween Rahman and threatening her sister and mother besides terrorising the caretaker, it emerged on Wednesday. Threats with impunity, which have surged in recent times since the murder of OPP director Rahman in March 2013, brought together representatives of civil society organizations to the Karachi Press Club to publicly take a stand against Sindh government inaction and warn of public mobilization and moving court if security was not provided to the family of Ms Rahman and those currently associated with the project.The press conference was addressed by chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Zohra Yusuf, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali, architect Arif Hasan besides representatives of the Women’s Action Forum and other civil society organisations.Speaking about how the OPP was left in the lurch with a constant barrage of attacks on its leadership causing the current director, Anwar Rashid, and over two dozen members of staff associated with the project to relocate, Piler executive director Karamat Ali said two men visited Parween’s house last week. They threatened her sister, Aquila Ismail, and their 80-year-old mother, and also terrorised the caretaker, he said. “This is an unacceptable situation,†he added. “Previously, police officers in plain clothes had come to the OPP office in Orangi and asked workers to shut down the project and leave the country. Repeatedly, we have had senior police officials forcing us to take back the case against Parween’s killers,†said Mr Ali. The state, specifically the Sindh government, was criticised for “failing to solve the question as to who murdered Parween Rehman and for what purpose.†The civil society representatives also shared their frustration about how the threats were not being taken seriously by the authorities, “which has virtually brought the work of OPP to a halt.†With the case finally making some headway in the Supreme Court (SC), the threats are a means to derail this progress, according to Mr Ali. Demands “We demand that the state fulfil its constitutional obligation to provide security to all family members of Parween Rahman, to Anwar Rashid and to the members of the OPP.†Petitioners of the case against Parween’s killers, some of whom were present at the press conference, laid down other demands that included uncovering Parween’s killers, launch of an investigation into the coercion by the police officials who asked them to withdraw the case, as well as prosecuting all those who have broken the law and not carried out their duties with regard to the case. “The SC’s binding instructions to provide foolproof security cannot be ignored any longer, and if action is not taken by the necessary authorities, we will file a complaint in court,†said Mr Ali. “Also, we will have to resort to public mobilisation against the intimidation of OPP.†HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf said that none of the petitioners would succumb to this intimidation by taking back the case. “We have lost three great women working for society — Parween, Zahra Shahid and Sabeen Mahmud. We are no longer afraid and will take this matter to the court if justice is not upheld and the loss of lives not prevented,†she said. Mapping section — the centre of threatsArchitect Arif Hasan said the mapping section of OPP, which is at the centre of all these threats, had to be relocated. “We had planned to return to Orangi but due to the severity of these threats, we are unable to do so.†Of the many projects OPP was working on, the regularisation of goth land garnered the most controversy. Working alongside the PPP government, Parween had helped facilitate this process by establishing the existence of more than 2,000 goths. Around the time of her death, 1,063 goths had been regularised with more than 1,000 others pending. After her murder, not a single goth has been regularised so far. Threats with impunity have become a regular feature with OPP projects, specifically the one related to goth regularisation. These are, according to those present at the press conference, merely discouraging other community-based organistions from taking up the cause of the poor.
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For Orangi Pilot Project workers, police have only one advice: leave the country
By Our Correspondent
Published: June 3, 2015
Social activists criticise law enforcers of failing to catch Perween Rahman’s killers. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD AZEEM/EXPRESS
KARACHI: It’s best for you to leave the country, a high-ranking police officer advised the officials of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) when they complained about receiving threats.
The workers at OPP have been threatened allegedly by the same people who shot dead its director, Perween Rahman, in March 2013. The social activists shared this information at Karachi Press Club as they criticised the attitude of the police and were saddened over the state’s failure to provide protection.
“In other words, the police were telling us that they cannot do anything to protect us,†said the executive director of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Karamat Ali. “We want to tell the Sindh government and the police that they are our servants and they get money from our taxes. To provide security, is their responsibility.â€
Ali pointed out that these threats have forced OPP’s current director Anwar Rashid, who took the reins after Rahman, to leave Karachi. Moreover, two unidentified men paid a visit to Rahman’s mother and misbehaved with her and caretaker. They wanted information on the whereabouts of Rahman’s sister and Rashid, he added. It is the state’s responsibility to protect the lives and properties of citizens, said Ali. “Before Perween’s murder, she received threats that were recorded but nothing was done about it,†he pointed out.
No backing out
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson Zohra Yusuf said that they will not withdraw Rahman’s murder case. “All those who are giving us threats, I want to tell them that we will not take back the case, and keep on fighting till we get justice.â€
The civil society had gone to the Supreme Court and demanded fresh inquiry into Rahman’s murder. Yusuf said the government should take these threats very seriously. In the last two years, three prominent women, Rahman, Zahra Shahid and Sabeen Mahmud have been gunned down, she pointed out, saying that the space for people is being reduced.
Mapping section
While speaking about the hurdles being faced by the OPP to function properly, urban planner Arif Hasan said that they had to shift their mapping section from Orangi to the Urban Resource Centre in the wake of threats. “After an attack on OPP’s Saleemuddin, we decided that we can’t work in Orangi,†he admitted.
The mapping section is working on land recording and surveys. Hasan said that after Rahman’s death, they continued working on documenting goths [unplanned settlements] that were forcibly occupied and grabbed but are now working from their office in the URC. “This [kind of] work cannot be done away from the katchi abadi and people ask us why we don’t visit,†said Hasan. “We wanted to shift the mapping section back but the threats came again.†The activists feel that the threats are being issued to them by those who are against the documentation of the land, but said that it is the work of the police and judiciary to find that out.
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Concern voiced over threats to Perween’s family, OPP officials
Civil society members to start campaign to press govt to ensure justice and protect those facing threats
Karachi
Prominent civil society activists have expressed concern about recent threats to Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) officials and family members of Perween Rehman, slain director of the project who was killed more than two years ago, over pursuing her murder case.
In a joint press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Zohra Yusuf, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research Director Karamat Ali, OPP Chairperson Arif Hasan and trade unionist Habibuddin Junaidi announced a campaign to put pressure on the authorities to resolve the case and protect Rehman’s family members and OPP officials.
Rehman was shot dead near her place of work in Orangi Town in March 2013.
“Not only has the government despite its vast financial, administrative and intelligence resources completely failed to ascertain in the last over two years as to who murdered Rehman and for what purpose, but what is most disturbing is that it has also failed to protect the people working at the OPP from the constant threats,†said Ali.
He said the threats had virtually caused the OPP work to come to a halt.
The OPP, one of Pakistan’s most successful non-profit organisations, has been working on projects as diverse as sanitation, health and mirco-finance credit, mainly in Orangi Town, one of the largest slums in the city. But the project of documenting land in the city was its important project, which, experts on civic issues believe, led to Rehman’s murder.
In collaboration with the provincial ministry of Kachi Abadis and under the leadership of Rehman, the OPP’s mapping section helped the residents of hundreds of Goths to regularise their areas. According to OPP officials, more than 1,000 Goths had been regularised by the ministry till the time of her death, but not a single Goth has been regularised since her killing.
The OPP has moved its mapping section to the office of the Urban Resource Centre after receiving constant threats.
“The OPP’s micro-credit sections have still been working at its office, but we have moved our mapping office, especially after the attack on Saleem Alimuddin, an OPP director, near the office, which he survived,†Hasan said.
He said the situation became alarming recently when Rashid was forced to leave the city because of the imminent threats to his life and the reluctance of police to protect him.
Also, two unknown persons visited Rehman’s residence and warned her sister and mother against pursuing the murder case.
Hasan said the relocation caused the OPP’s ongoing work in and around Orangi Town to slow down. “It is very difficult for the OPP to continue our community-based work far from the area.â€
The speakers of the press conference also criticised the government for spoiling the Rehman murder case and demanded transparency in the investigation.
The OPP colleagues said that after the arrest of Ahmed Khan alias Pappu Kashmiri, a prime suspect in Rehman’s murder case, from the Mansehra district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, threats had been issued to colleagues and family of Rehman recently. They believed that Kashmiri had revealed to the investigators some more names regarding the murder.
A day after Rehman’s murder, police said, Qari Bilal, an alleged leader of the outlawed Terheek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who was killed in an alleged police encounter, was the mastermind of her murder. However, after the apex court ordered a fresh probe dismissing the police’s claims, a joint investigation team was set up to probe the murder.
In the beginning, police linked the murder with the TTP and then tried to blame it on the water tankers’ mafia, on which Rehman had written a report in 2009. All of it was aimed at damaging the case.
The speakers demanded of the government to fulfil its constitutional obligation to provide security to Rehman’s family members and colleagues and to ensure the functioning of the OPP free from threats. They also announced they would go to the Supreme Court again where the murder case is pending to bring to its notice the recent alarming situation.
