A letter likely to point to the murderers of former Sindh governor Hakim Said has been allegedly recovered by Scotland Yard from the house of slain Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq.
Earlier, several MQM workers, allegedly involved in Said’s murder on October 17, 1998, were arrested and subsequently sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court. However, on May 31, 2001, the Sindh High Court acquitted all the accused in the case.
The letter, said to have been written to Dr Farooq by one Javed Turk, is part of a number of documents impounded from the MQM leader’s house as part of the ongoing investigations into his murder.
The investigating agency is translating the letter from Urdu to English for possible clues, sources said.
Said, who established Hamdard Foundation in 1948, was a well known scholar and philanthropist.
Farooq Murder probe
Translated documents, recovered from Farooq’s house, are helping Scotland Yard zero-in on possible suspects in Farooq’s murder case, sources said.
Scotland Yard has recently questioned on caution one person and also carried out house and office raids in the UK in connection with Dr Farooq’s murder. The person questioned on caution is believed to have links with an important Pakistan-based political party.
Knowledgeable sources have claimed that the MQM UK chapter has taken strong exception to the direction the murder case probe has taken and has even reportedly protested to the UK government.
Last month in one of his telephonic speeches from London, MQM chief Altaf Hussain had alleged that Pakistan’s civilian agencies – the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) – had provided ‘misleading information’ to Scotland Yard. Hussain implied that the information sent by the agencies had attempted to implicate the MQM in Dr Farooq’s murder.
However, both Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) and the High Commission in the UK have denied knowledge of any such communication between IB and FIA and the Scotland Yard. According to them, as per rules, all communication has to pass through the FO and Pakistan’s High Commission.
Scotland Yard is said to be treating the case of Dr Farooq’s murder with high priority and are trying their level best to apprehend the killers before September 16. Circumstantial evidence indicates that the suspected murderers have left the UK for, most probably, Colombo.
Three suspects arrested from Karachi Airport
According to sources, a non-civilian Pakistani intelligence agency had detained three suspects some months ago from Karachi in connected with Dr Farooq’s murder. They were handed over to the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) last month, sources familiar with the matter revealed.
They said that contrary to media reports, the suspects – Khalid Shamim and two young boys – were not taken into custody on a tip from Scotland Yard.
Their purported arrest from the Karachi airport on a tip from Scotland Yard was allegedly leaked to the media by Interior Minister Rehman Malik. However, the British police were reportedly surprised themselves, when the news of the arrest and Scotland Yard’s ‘tip-off’ broke.
Furthermore, the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) installed at the Karachi airport did not support the arrest of Shamim and his accomplices.
The plot
Sources further revealed that Shamim was given the task of killing Dr Farooq in London. He sought help from a man named Hammad Siddiqi, who provided him with two boys as his accomplices. Shamim is said to have arranged student visas for the boys.
Upon their arrival in London, sources added, the boys were briefed about Dr Farooq’s routine by an unidentified man. Dr Farooq was murdered by the boys close to his house, sources said. Sources added that following the murder, the boys left for Colombo instead of coming back to Pakistan to mislead investigators.
After reaching Colombo, they allegedly contacted Shamim, who ordered them to come back to Pakistan. A non-civilian secret agency recorded all the conversations between Shamim and the boys. According to sources, Shamim had planned to murder the boys upon their arrival in Karachi.
Confession
The agencies detained the boys when they reached Karachi from Colombo and were made to listen to all the recordings of their conversations. According to sources, after listening to the recordings, they themselves confessed to the murder in the presence of the non-civilian intelligence agency personnel. Although Shamim presented the facts in a different context, statements of all three of the accused proved comparable at the end, sources familiar with the matter further revealed.
After thorough interrogation and extracting complete information, the inquiring agency’s provincial (Sindh) chapter sent a detailed report to its headquarters. After getting approval, the culprits were handed over to the LEAs last month for registration of criminal cases and prosecution.
Meanwhile, increased visits and meetings of UK officials, particularly intelligence liaison officers, police liaison officers, as well as undercover officials of UK intelligence agencies have been observed by the FIA headquarters in Islamabad during August.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2011.
COMMENTS (88)
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non-sense ............ Imran was brain of MQM at that time and its sound rubbish to preserve self destructive evidence of closed case ............... come on not again ,Balochistan already on fire
WOW, they must be so stupid to write letters for this when they could fly London every week from Karachi.
Awaiting Justice, and Justice for All.
read the joint investigation team's report highlighted by barrister asma jahangir
@Arsalan Khan: Raees Imrohee was Also a Poet and intellectual
i wonder who killed kesc md shahid hamid?
let see what happen
this is fruitless exercise, as all person have been declared annocent through high court decsion,therfore, there is no need of further comments
No political party should operate like the MQM. No one is safe, even their own people. We should let the Scotland Yard do its job.
@ Mr.Jafri
I am a pure karachiite, meaning i was born here and brought up here with Parents who migrated from india. I request you kindly to come out of this mind set that Muhajirs are being victims all over pakistan. I did job in Punjab for over a long period and not even a single punjabi asked me to leave the job because I was grabbing his job and consuming his resources but on ther contrary I gained great respect from them as i belong to a cultured urdu speaking nation and from educated city, karachi. I know lot of karachiites doing job in lahore, islamabad and pindi and living comfortably there. We see every karachi family visiting Murre Hills and northern areas every year, does some one stops them and mistreats them ?? No, never. So please change your mind set and come out of state of denial.
Inshallah truth will come out soon.
The discussion revolves around unresolved issues and matters that have not been made public. The tragic assassinations of Hakim Said and Dr Farooq have one thing uncommon. The investigation and attempt to prosecute in the former is amost closed while it is open in the latter. Crimes can never be curbed if the heinous acts go unprosecuted and perpetrators unpunished. One reason of spread out killings and pre-meditated assassinations in Karachi and even elsewhere in Pakistan is due to an extremely weak machinary of prosecution and dispensation of justice.
Few questions however need an answer. Who killed the many policemen -even retired- who participated in several operation clean ups against MQM? How the grand political machinary of MQM is financed? How some of the leaders who were mere paupers have now become millionaires? Who are those gun totting people visible in the 12 May 2007 mayhem?
Will we ever get answers?
I hope they work this efficiently and relentlessly to catch BB's murderers as well.
Mr. Hakim Saeed was a great asset of Pakistan but unfortunately he was murdered but it should not be forget to Muslim that in right path some time there is a need of sacrifice even sacrifice of life. But on the other hand, it is the primary duty of the government to provide justice without favour and influence, unfortunately, there is no government or head of government who is working for the welfare of the country and masses. In our country who rules he/she does firstly for his own benefit then for the benefit of his party and lastly when nothing is left for the country. So, we need a leadership like Quaid-e-Azam who did firstly for nation/country by all means then for his party and lastly for his own from his own sources not from the sources of the country. Pakistan Zindabad.
Thank God its Scotland Yard which is investigating, otherwise MQM would have played the sympathy card. Well i wont be surprised if they dont play the "International conspiracy" card.
I wonder what Rizvis, Arzooz and all mafia supporters would've commented if the letter contained names of either ANP, Aman Committee or any other political party for that matter. All talk of objectivity, course of law, responsible reporting may have flushed down the gutter. If not for Hakim Said, bring MQM down for my brother's murder when these mafia people didn't allow us to file and FIR and not even let his body to be cremated in our ancestral graveyard.
@Arsalan Khan: Lolz!!!! you have an amazing sense of humor.
PPP is trying to throw Garbage on MQM through puppet media and Zulfiqar Mirza while Zardi is Playing Mr Reconcilation.
@Abbas Rizvi: Thousands are killed in Karachi in this recent wave of terror , it is all because of political parties' armed wings. Some smaller parties have done this in self defence or retaliation , but the major responsibilty lies on the shoulders of majority party as they are the one who started this . Everyday people are killed and still govt. says the want so called 'reconcilliation' . Reconcilliation should not mean that now murderers will not be punished. So it was all so called shameless reconcilliations or political statements to win few dirty votes to save their governments and now you are trying to use it as evidence of innocence.Shame on our political leaders whos decisions are always politically influenced and they never cared about human lives(the most precious and respectable thing in western world , where they take refuge).
Pardon my skepticism but it is an intelligence agencies provided new material. I have seen many of such news clips since 1980s
@Abbas Rizvi: So you mean Scotland Yard is plotting against a so called political party of Pakistan. It is only Pakistan where you can manipulate the system against truth and evidence, and everything is politically or power motivated, even murder investigations.They killed thousands in Pakistan , nothing happened but it was their 1st in UK and they are down to the knees.
Ever since the assassination of Hakim Saeed, quantity of people had been pointing out fingers on alleged involvement of MQM, and definitely it hurts the feeling of its followers, I just want to make it clear right on the outset that despite the fact that MQM widely represents Urdu speaking community, but in no way pointing out MQM as party means targeting the community, which is most respected group of this nation , who not only gave sacrifices in terms of their properties but also gave their blood to new born state Pakistan . What we are today is because of their tireless efforts and sacrifices. We need to understand a small number of miscreant operating under the garb of MQM militant wings are not truly representing Urdu speaking community. I think time has come to differentiate between a true Urdu speaking Pakistanis and opportunists who maliciously malign our Urdu speaking brother and sisters. It is also an eye opener for us to understand who befools us for their ulterior designs. Party affiliation should never supersede our love and affection for country we all have. we have no right to blame anyone unless we Concrete evidence, moreover it is job of courts to decide.
Let justice be done and culprits brought to justice
Hakeem Saeed was a great man.His murder was a great loss for all Muslims.
If intelligence agencies know about Dr. Farooq's murderers and have all evidence so why not they produce them to court.
Express Tribune is allowing Abbas Rizvi to post multiple posts including links and 'copy paste' of other news content! So are the pro-MQM elements taking over the neutrality of ET or has ET decided to take sides itself???
I want everyone MQM guy to put a Quran on his head like ZM did and say loud and clear that they don't have any militant wing and are not involved in killings/abduction or any other outlaw activity in karachi by any means. I'll consider them innocent for my whole life. However they call a person liar [not just a person but a sitting minister] who put Quran on his head and narrated his viewpoint by showing pile of official documents. They should better clean their hands by showing proof/evidences that they are innocent before Allah's wrath takes the toll.
Cuz every muslim is prayed for this in whole ramadan as far as karachi goes.
I was waiting to pop up the issue of Hakim saeed murder case...
It's really fishy that one after another, all the allegations/stories coming against the MQM to tarnish its image, nationally & internationally. Just think neutrally.
@Saqib Mohiuddin: Our military leaders and politicians are a bunch of corrupt whiners who can utter anything if that goes in their favor. Everyone knows the role of MQM in screwing law and order in Sindh and denying that is simulating just like an Ostridge who hides her head in sand when feels danger.
@Abbas Rizvi: Who is Saulat Mirza BTW????
@Abbas Rizvi,
If they name the name of 'reporter', he/she will face the fate of Wali Khan Babur. I'm sure you know what happened to him or who did it. If not, then watch the capital talk of Journalist's SSS dharna.
Mr Abbas Rizvi: Shouting doesn't make you RIGHT. Writing after every few minutes doesn't mean you are RIGHT, again. Have patience and wait for what comes out. This report not said a single word that Hakim case is done by MQM but rather it just given a ref that a letter regarding this case is recovered from Imran's house. So why you people are so upset on this clue? And for your demand that ET reporter shall disclose the information source, you are turning to childish here, my dear Rizvi. Looks you are extremely upset on this article as you demanding a thing which is not accepted all over the world. No journalist ever disclose his/her source neither this is demanded. Again, control your nerves. If MQM haven't done anything wrong, you shouldn't be afraid (which doesn't looks the case by your reflexes) @ Dear Arzoo: You are right that you are very experienced but with respect, you shall try to read (and if possible, understand) what is "Investigative Journalism"? Problem with human machine is that it doesn't accept the facts/realities which turn up against the mindset which have been made up (and sometime we try to avoid them by finding excuses). Wish you a safe and happy life (if nothing wrong has done to humanity)
@Abbas Rizvi: Agreed brother. By saying 'silent', I meant MQM is silent. Generally this is not the case if you accuse them, they would treat you in a different way.
@Arzoo: Well said!!!
@JD : Because search operation is going on in Liyari
Karachi has suddenly become so 'silent' these days ... something is fishy here.
Author need to post his sources of information - How come Scotland Yard is sharing secret information with him.
I am going to call to the reporter of Ummat and TheLondonPost for the same question..
Let the chips fall, wherever they may. Will someone, also look into the murders of Murtaza & Shahnawaz Bhutto. There, are few other politucal murders need to be solved, beginning with Liaqat Ali Khan. It is important for any civilized nation to look, everything which went wrong in the past, to move forward. Just, don't pin the blame on any one, no matter who is involved. This will deter other in the future. It does not matter, if the culprits are dead or alive.
Let the justice be done though the heavens fall.
@ Abbas Rizvi
are you Mr.Haider Abbas Rizvi....MNA?
Be cool man let Justice prevail and take its path to find the truth.
Where is the moderator? How so many posts, including copy-n-paste of articles from other websites, video links, repeated comments of an MQM spokesman went through? Or do we have a mole in the house?
Could ET have waited to write this "Ummat" style article once the Scotland Yard has completely translated the letter found from Dr. Imran's house?
@Nash: hmmm... have the heart to read the truth. the paper just printed it and has quoted agencies and sources. it hasn't produced the story out of its stomach.
we must read the wall if we have eyes
people are so naive that they themselves are being jury and judge ... if MQM is involved than accept it stop bringing ethnic support to any party ... think as Pakistanis.
Absolute trash.. fail to understand why such a credible paper print such a stupid piece which is full of lies and deceit. Surely there's something vested behind this story.
I have just told my hawker not to deliver tribune from tomorrow as I don't have the time to read such trash...
this case should be solved and will help a lot in betterment of karachi and pakistan culprits should be caught it is not 90's
I will not be surprise if another letter come out from the same pile written by some Turk leading to the murder of Liaqat ALi Khan :)
Next letters would be for ZA. Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto followed by JFK .. ;)
@Arif: Let's assume you are right - The murder was successfully done so why the letter was still sitting on Dr. Farooq's kitchen counter? :)
Why a closed file which has already ruled by Sindh High Court being opened?
THIS SOUNDS FISHY - SPECIALLY WHEN MQM IS CORNERED
It is very easy to points finger or to blame anyone , but real hard to prove it.
All the MQM workers implemented in False Hakim Saeed Murder case were acquitted by Sindh Highcourt.
Sindh High Court acquits all accused in Said murder case
By Shamim-ur-Rahman
KARACHI, May 31: The Sindh High Court on Thursday acquitted all the nine accused in the Hakim Said murder case, setting aside the conviction and death sentence awarded to them by an anti-terrorism court on June 4, 1999.
While allowing the appeals against conviction and sentence, the anti-terrorism appellate bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Ataur Rahman, held in its short order that the "appellants are acquitted and should be released forthwith, if not required in any other case".
The appellants were: Shaikh Mohammed Aamirullah, Mohammed Shakir alias Shakir Langra, Mohammed Nadeem alias Nadeem Mota, Mohammed Faisal, Mohammed Zubair, Abu Imran Pasha, Nazar alias Muqarrib, Mohammad Zubair and Ezazul Hasan.
The murder had created a political stir in the country but the short order also demolished the political premise of the prosecution's case. After three months of hearing, the bench announced the short order which reflected its disbelief in investigation, the 164 (Cr.PC) statements, and demolished the prosecution's contentions with regard to recovery of arms and other evidence. It also demolished the political premise of the motive for the murder.
The defence counsel in appeals had argued for the acquittal because the prosecution had failed to prove any evidence, whether they pertained to confessional statement, witnesses' account, ballistic expert's report and evidence about the recovery of empties and finger-prints. On confessional statements the defence had argued that signatures were obtained first on blank paper while contents of the confession were written afterwards and therefore, they were fabricated evidence.
The defence had also argued that if one tainted piece of evidence cannot be corroborated then the whole statement should be rejected. They had also disputed the prosecution's contention with regard to the identification parade. The defence contended that the prosecution had also failed to justify the recovery of empties from the spot and the van.
They had termed the investigation a mere fabrication. The short order left open the question who were the killers of Hakim Said and whether there should be reinvestigation? When the order was announced, defence counsel Azizullah Shaikh, Mahmood Alam Rizvi, Adnan Ahmed and Iqtidar Hashmi were present.
The prosecution was represented by Assistant Advocate-General Habib Ahmed. Special Public Prosecutor M. Ilyas Khan has proceeded on vacations after arguing the prosecution's case. During the course of arguments on May 28, the special prosecutor had disagreed with the conviction of Abu Imran Pasha, Faisal and Muqarrib by the trial court.
After the short order, when the AAG was asked whether he would go in appeal, he said the matter would be decided by the government. On June 4, 1999 the appellants were awarded death sentence by Judge Qamaruddin Bohra of the ATC who had concluded that "prosecution has established their case beyond any shadow of doubt against all the accused persons".
The murder had brought down the coalition between the PML and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement as then premier Nawaz Sharif had implicated some of the members of the MQM in the case.
Nawaz Sharif on Oct 28, 1998 had accused an MPA and seven other activists of the MQM of being involved in the Oct 17, 1998 murder of Hakim Said, and had given them three days to hand over the culprits. Since the MQM had repudiated the allegations the coalition collapsed and a governor rule was imposed on Sindh. As a result of the arrest and subsequent conviction by the ATC, some officers had got shoulder promotion.
First, the case was tried in the ATC but after the creation of Military Trial Courts in December 1998, it was transferred to the MTC where the matter was proceeded till Feb 17, 1999, the day when the Supreme Court had declared them illegal. By that time three witnesses and the investigating officer had been cross-examined.
The matter was again sent to the ATC where the appellants were convicted. Sardar Mohammad Ishaq, counsel for the MQM, filed appeals for seven accused. Iqtidar Hashmi and Mahmood Alam Rizvi were privately engaged to file appeals on behalf of Mohammed Shakir and Abu Imran Pasha, respectively. Later, Barrister Azizullah Shaikh was engaged for Aamirullah, and lawyers Abdul Waheed Katpar and Adnan Ahmed appeared for others as Sardar Ishaq fell ill.
According to law, the appeals should have been disposed of in seven days but due to preoccupation of prosecution lawyers in the Nawaz Sharif case and delay in the preparation of paper book, regular hearing could not commence till March. The bench also dismissed application for the inspection of the location of incident as enormous evidence was already available on record. The application filed by M/s Hamdard for the release of the Hakim Said's car was disposed of with the direction to file it in the trial court.
well.. the thing is... Rehman malik never told media about the arrest of two boys infact he negated the fact. beside u know who murdered imran farooq AND hakeem saeed shaheed.
After having gained respect for Express Tribune for responsible and objective journalism this article is very disappointing. Against the tradition of ET, there is no name of the author or the Press Agency, which becomes immediately a suspect article. The article is a rehash of recent news items in the press which have been debunked by responsible authorities. Having lived in the West for longer than many of the readers' ages, I can tell you with certainty that Scotland Yard does not release non-sensical information such as the one cited in the article in tidbits. Scotland Yard, when it discovers information such as this develops it until something concrete shapes up enough to present as evidence in a court of law. Please spare us. And Express Tribune I am extremely disappointed in your lack of journalistic responsibility. A week or so ago I had read the news about couple of people getting arrested at Karachi Airport arriving from Colombo. I told myself that the news is not reported in ET and there must be a reason, specifically I thought that it must be a rumour because of which ET did not print it. And here, what do I see today???? What a shame. And the good people of Karachi who are already deprived of authentic, reliable, and trustworthy sources of news did not deserve it.
If MQM is not involved then they have nothing to worry about the letter found from Imran Farooq's residence
Nawaz Sharif made cases against Zardari and BB, PPP govt in 90's made cases against MQM, then NRO came, then NRO was overturned by Supreme Court, now put the pressure on your allies, so another NRO can be approved from parliament
And why are all of a sudden MQM's supporters on the defensive ? Come on guys, nothing has happened yet, or is it that something has happened which we are unaware of and you are told about in your sectors/units ? Where is Altaf Hussain now a days by the way, long time no see ?
may b it was that letter (proof) in the hand of dr. imran for which he was murdered....?
Imran farooq was a writer, a poet, a thinker and was a great asset of MQM. No matter what conspiracy theories are being placed to blame MQM, there's no party who can replace MQM from the Urban Sindh.
@Abbas Rizvi: Rizvi Sahab: The article only narrates the facts of arrest and conviction of the suspects in 1998 and acquittal in 2001. The contents of the letter written to Dr. Farooque were not released and were not mentioned in the article. One can speculate though that reference to Hakeem Sahab murder may have been mentioned as an oblique waring or a threat to Dr. Farooque to learn from the incidence; who knows!
Or is it "Chore ki Darhee men tinka!"
Crap .. how could it possible that such an sensitive communication is done via LETTERS and even after YEARS these letters are alive in the files.. Isn’t this an open offer to agencies to come and arrest…I’d say this is such an stupid article to blame MQM for a case which has already been confessed over the television by the conspirators of of the plan….
Hakeem Saeed Murder Mystery Resolved - Fake Allegation on MQM Exposed
http://youtu.be/JQ4mQfV1n7g
MQM was not involved in Hakeem Mohammad Saeed murder - Ex. Chief Minister Sindh Liaqat Jatoi
http://youtu.be/1Js_RvpQZa8
This is beginning of the re-opening of a closed case of Hakeem Muhammad Said (Shaheed).
I have learnt one thing in my life. If any body commits any crime, sooner or later it is unearthed by the law enforcing agencies with the passage of time.
Though the murder case of Hakeem Muhammd Said has been closed in Pakistan, but every one knows that behind the murder of Hakeem Muhammad Said was his plot which the land mafia wanted to grab from him.
Let’s see how Pakistani authorities will take up the matter in Pakistan when more revelations will be made by Scotland Yard Police.
Welcome back to politics of 90's and political victimization
Let justice be done and culprits brought to justice
Err.. Is this about Hakim Said or Imran Farooq !
What the letter was doing at Imran Farooq's house?