HE lackadaisical progress on the investigation into Perween Rahman`s murder offers several insights into why the well-known social activist and development expert died at all. It is only now, three years later, that Raheem Swati, the prime suspect, has been arrested. The relentless legal campaign fought by Rahman`s family and friends to compel the police to undertake a thorough and credible investigation into her death and the close interest evinced by a responsive apex court in the matter, played a large role in whatever progress has been made until now. Rahman was shot dead on March 13, 2013, while on her way home from her work as director of the Orangi Pilot Project Research and Training Institute. The very next day, the police announced with much fanfare that the suspected assassin, Qari Bilal, had been killed in an `encounter`. That claim, coming so quickly on the heels of the crime, was in itself reason to suspect that the murder was being conveniently dismissed as an open-and-shut case.

The judicial commission ordered by the apex court in June 2014 exposed the police`s deliberate misrepresentation of facts and efforts at a cover-up. Those familiar with the environment in which Rahman worked were not surprised. A criminalised politics, in which corrupt law-enforcement agencies play an integral part, has long been a feature of Karachi. This teeming metropolis of 20 million continues to expand haphazardly, which places enormous pressure on its resources foremost among them land and water. That in turn has given rise to formidable mafias whose fortunes are built on the plunder of the city`s resources which they sell to the highest bidder. Perween Rahman was a passionate advocate for the collective right of all Karachiites to basic services such as affordable housing and water supply; in the process, she had made some very powerful enemies. Aside from her extensive research into the theft of water through illegal hydrants in the city, she was documenting the many villages in Karachi which, in the absence of legal title, are often the first to fall prey to land-grabbers. From what is so far known, Raheem Swati is but a low-level player in a high-stakes enterprise. Only an investigation led by officials with an unimpeachable record would be able, and willing, to connect all the dots and unearth the real culprits behind a crime that robbed this country of one of its brightest lights.