Ms Parveen Rehman: A saint silenced

EDITORIAL : Daily Times

One of the saddest days in Karachi’s long and bloody history is not one involving the deaths of many but the murder of one very special, very compassionate soul — Ms Parveen Rehman, a social worker who made it her life’s mission to develop impoverished neighbourhoods and to help all those downtrodden people who had been made victims of land grabbing mafias in the port city. As the head of the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) — taking over after its founder Akhtar Hameed Khan died — she was a rare light in the darkness that has engulfed Karachi. Looked upon as an ‘elder sister’ by the inhabitants of neglected slums, her death has struck a blow to the cause she was fighting for. That her death has come in such a gruesome manner, where she was gunned down in her car while travelling in the west Orangi area, has struck a hard blow to the people, her friends, family, and the OPP. The police have been amazingly ‘efficient’. Within a few hours they had managed to not just capture the assassin but kill him too. Now, for a police force known as habitually lazy and incompetent, this is shocking. However, the country’s police institution is also known to succumb to pressure and revert to just about any tactic to ease the mounting calls for ‘justice’. Could this be a very convenient police encounter, one that hits two birds with one stone? It is imperative that the authorities and the higher ups in the police force look into the death of the ‘gunman’ and investigate whether he really was who the police say he is. There is plenty of speculation about who was behind the murder. Some reports are labelling this a jihadi attack. If this is true then we must pause to ask what beef the militants have with community development, where citizens are being helped to realise the importance of education, sanitation, healthcare, living standards, etc — basically their rights. The militants are averse to human rights and by eliminating such individuals who promote those very rights they may be creating a void they wish to fill themselves. Some reports indicate land-grabbing groups and this, too, makes sense. By assassinating a voice that spoke out against such groups, the land mafia’s imprint is a possibility. She was a clear target, having received death threats as well. In each case, the reasons and motive behind the attack may be different but the organisation and the cause she belonged to seem to be a connecting factor. A woman who dedicated her life to help the poor and defenceless, cannot be allowed to die in silence. Her death must be investigated and the culprits and their agendas must be brought to light. Otherwise, she will remain a mere statistic.