An architect and urban planner, Perween Rahman, dedicated her life to the poor of Pakistan. She was shot dead by armed assailants on her way home in March 2013. When she joined the Karachi based Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in 1983 Orangi’s lanes were full of filth and choking gutters. Back in the early 1980s, the people here, most of them migrants from India and Bangladesh, were taking their own steps to improve sanitation. OPP assigned Perween the task of developing a low cost sanitation model for Orangi. Her pioneering work led her on a collision course with the various mafias of the city.
Development doesn’t come from concrete. Development is not five star hotels and mega road projects. What we need is human development.
Perween Rahman
She surveyed the water supply to Karachi and pinpointed locations from where water was being stolen from the bulk supply lines. She mapped and documented Karachi’s informal settlements to provide the poor secure tenure against land grabbers. Perween had an alternate vision for the development of Karachi. “Development doesn’t come from concrete. Development is not five star hotels and mega road projects. What we need is human development”.
After 8 long years Perween’s sister Aquila Ismail and family have been able to break the solid wall built by the Karachi police impeding justice. Approaching the Pakistan Supreme Court in 2018 they first ordered two high level investigations. Then on 4 January 2021 they ordered the police to place the findings of the investigations before the trial court. The five accused under arrest will finally face their reckoning.
Now remains the larger conspiracy around who ordered the killing. The Rahman family are not letting this go away even though the immediate gang (their neighbours, no less) are behind bars. The court has also allowed the filing of an application in the trial court for dealing with the two police officers that were directly involved. One is the high-ranking officer who the next day televised that Perween’s killer had been killed. Thus, the case according to him was to be closed.
The Supreme Court decision will provide information on the conspirators behind the plot. The justices also ordered that OPP and Aquila Ismail be given continued security. If there is any lapse on this count then she can directly inform the Supreme Court.
Habitat Norway has for several years been advocating the “Justice for Perween”- issue. Aquila Ismail and OPP leaders have visited Oslo meeting high ranking officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and toured Norway with the film “The Rebel Optimist”. During World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in February 2020 Habitat Norway and OPP jointly organized a major screening and discussion event on the role of female, urban activists.
Congratulations to the brave woman Aquila Ismail, her family and Orangi Pilot Project. One large step for justice has been taken against enormous odds.
