Pakistan

Imran Farooq case: Key suspects admit role in MQM leader’s murder

Claim he was killed because he became threat to party’s leadership; MQM denies involvement

Rizwan Shehzad January 07, 2016

Imran Farooq. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD:

The Imran Farooq murder case took a new turn on Thursday when two key suspects recorded their confessional statement before a magistrate court, saying that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader was killed as he was a ‘potent threat’ to the leadership of the party.

Suspects Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali recorded their statements before the magistrate, Captain (retired) Shoaib Ali, after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced them amid tight security.

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Sources privy to the development revealed that both the suspects completely confessed to their involvement in the assassination of the senior MQM leader. The suspects did not deny FIA’s allegation that they “hatched a conspiracy, conspired with each other and abetted for the murder of Farooq who was a potent threat to the leadership of MQM,” the sources added.

FIA has so far arrested Shamim, Mohsin Ali and Moazzam Ali in the murder case. Moazzam was arrested in March 2015 from Karachi while Khalid and Mohsin were arrested by Frontier Corps Balochistan from Chaman.

In the statement, Mohsin said that Moazzam had processed his visa and prepared travel documents. Shamim said that he consented to join the murder plot since he was a hardcore activist of MQM, the sources said. The sources further said that Shamim also disclosed that a senior MQM leader Muhammad Anwar issued order for the murder of Farooq.

Scotland Yard concludes investigation in Imran Farooq murder case

Moazzam has not yet recorded confessional statement in the case. The other suspects recorded statements under section 164 (power to record statements and confessions) of the Criminal Procedure Code before the court. The statements were recorded in Urdu and each statement took almost three hours to complete. Under the law, the suspects were explained that they were not bound to make a confession and if they do so it may be used as evidence against them.

A joint investigation team (JIT) constituted to probe the murder had earlier claimed that MQM chief Altaf Hussain presumed Farooq as a threat and he wanted to eliminate him. The JIT report had further stated that all the three suspects were members of All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation which is the student wing of the MQM.

On December 5, the FIA had registered a case against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and other party leaders for their alleged involvement in the 2010 murder of Dr Imran Farooq. Farooq was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in Green Lane, Edgware, in September 2010.

The counter-terrorism wing of the FIA registered the case under the relevant clauses of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The clauses of conspiracy, assistance, abetment and assassination/murder have also been incorporated in the FIR. Apart from Altaf Hussain, Muhammad Anwar, Iftikhar Hussain, Moazzam, Khalid, Mohsin and Kashif Kamran have also been nominated in the FIR. These MQM members have already been grilled by the Scotland Yard.

Imran Farooq murder: FIA files case against Altaf, other MQM men

Investigators from the London Metropolitan Police, which has been investigating the assassination, flew into Pakistan in July and September last year to interrogate the suspects.

Following the statements, an anti-terrorism court sent the suspects to Adiala jail on 14-day judicial remand.

MQM reaction

In a statement issued late on Thursday, the MQM denied any member of the party was involved in Imran Farooq’s murder.

“MQM is aware of reports in the Pakistani media that individuals held in detention by Pakistani authorities have allegedly confessed to the murder of Dr Imran Farooq. These individuals have allegedly named MQM personnel as having ordered the killing,” it said.

“We categorically state that no party personnel have had anything whatever to do with the tragic death of Dr Farooq. We mourn the loss of a man who was our friend and colleague for many years,” the statement added. “MQM welcomes any assistance that may be provided to the British Metropolitan Police Service, who continue to investigate the death of Dr Farooq.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (2)

S.R.H. Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply Starting with that of first prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan, there have been quite a few murders in Pakistan’s history. Like there was that of a former prime minister and the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who lost his life to what is termed a judicial murder. And later, his daughter Benazir Bhutto, also a former prime minister, got murdered in suspicious circumstances, with her murder not investigated satisfactorily despite rumours of political motivations behind it Also Benazir’s brother Mir Murtaza Bhutto was murdered while Benazir was the prime minister. And then there was the murder of fourteen innocent men and women and wounding of another ninety at Dr. Tahirul Qadri’s Model Town, Lahore secretariat, which has been hushed up despite the involvement of army chief General Raheel Sharif’s involvement in the registration of FIR, And then Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada got killed, and many others. Also, there is the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, alleging extra-judicial killing of its workers by law-enforcers, apart from arbitrary arrests, torture and disappearances. And similar complaints were quite common in Balochistan as well. However, ignoring all this, the Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has picked up for deep probe a murder which was committed five years back, not on Pakistan soil but in Britain, where the victim was living after fleeing from Pakistan, and for whom the Pakistan government had announced a head money of rupees three months long time back. Also, the murder is already being investigated by the renowned Scotland Yard which enjoys excellent reputation. So, there was really no need for Chaudhry Nisar to take up this case while there are numerous problems begging solution. And that means that the sudden awakening of Chaudhry Nisar’s conscience after remaining in a state of hibernation all this time has not been caused by his deep-rooted sense of justice and fair play but has some other motivation behind it. And Nisar’s reasons for adopting this course are not all that difficult to find. Lacking the courage to take up the civilian side of the National Action Plan which has remained unimplemented, he has taken up the task of trying to finish off MQM as well as Peoples Party or at least to cripple the two significantly which perhaps would also be to the liking of some other forces. With so many serious problems inside the country, at the borders and beyond, is it the time to repeat, albeit on a smaller scale, the drama which was played in former East Pakistan. And is not there anyone, within the civilian or military administration, at any level, who could knock some sense into Chaudhry Nisar’s head and those of his buddies? Having acquired US citizenship, Chaudhry Nisar’s wife and children have a safe and cosy nest to move to but the vast majority of Pakistanis have only Pakistan to live and die in, and they would not want it to be messed up any more, through the short-sighted and revengeful acts of Chaudhry Nisar and his likes. Karachi

Ali | 8 years ago | Reply Please hand over these suspects to Scotland Yard, I have zero faith in our agencies and judiciary who have full capacity. It is only the UK police that can put this case to its logical end.

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