Social activist Perween Rahman was assassinated in a drive-by shooting on the Banaras flyover on March 13, 2013. Rehman, an urban planner, was running an NGO called Orangi Pilot Project in the Orangi Town neighborhood.
Five suspects, including Abdul Rahim Swati, his son Imran Swati and their three accomplices, Ayaz Shamzai, Ahmed Khan and Amjad Hussain Khan, were charged with the murder.
At a previous hearing, the ATC judge had recorded the final arguments from the complainant, the prosecution and the defence.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, who represented the complainant, Aquila Ismail, sister of the deceased activist, had urged the court to give a strict punishment to the accused. He pointed out the strong evidence that had been placed on record against them.
He said Abdul Rahim, a local leader of the Awami National Party, had also confessed during investigations that after a dispute with Rehman on a piece of land in Peerabad, he planned the murder and executed her with the help of a Taliban militant.
He added that the victim had also named her killer in an interview to a journalist two years before her assassination.
Advocate Shah Imroze, the defence counsel for the accused, raised objections on the merit of the evidence, saying it was full of contradictions.
He referred to the abovementioned interview and argued that in it she had also named former Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Farooq Sattar and his party MPA Abdul Qudoos. He added that the investigators had not mentioned the names of these politicians in the charge sheet.