Despite confessions no headway in Imran Farooq assassination case

Interior ministry rejects reports UK formally requested for repatriation of the accused

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Saturday revealed that there is no headway in a case relating to the assassination of Muttahida Qaumi Movement  (MQM) convener Dr Imran Farooq even though the key accused have made confessional statements.

Dr Farooq was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in the Edgware neighbourhood of London in September 2010.

The interior ministry rejected media reports that Scotland Yard has formally requested for the repatriation of the key accused namely Khalid Shamim, Syed Mohsin Ali and Moazzam Ali who are currently in the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).



A statement issued by the interior ministry said neither Pakistani nor British authorities have so far made any contact for the repatriation of the accused. Moazzam Ali was arrested in March 2015 from Karachi while Khalid Shamim and Mohsin Ali were taken into custody by the Frontier Corps Balochistan from the border town of Chaman.

Investigators from the London Metropolitan Police, who have been investigating Dr Farooq’s assassination, flew into Pakistan in July and September last year to interrogate the accused. “But UK authorities have not made any formal request for their repatriation thus far,” said the ministry.

The government on December 5, 2015 decided to register a case in Pakistan to put the key accused on trial and, the FIA registered a case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain and other party leaders for their alleged involvement in the murder.

Legal wizards believe there is little scope for Pakistani authorities to pursue this case. But Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has refuted the legal opinion in a recent press conference.

This case took a new turn on Thursday, when two key suspects recorded their confessional statement before a magistrate court, saying the MQM leader was killed as he was a ‘potent threat’ to the leadership of the party.

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

Moazzam has not yet recorded a confessional statement. 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.



FIA’s counter-terrorism wing 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. MQM denied any member of the party was involved in Imran Farooq’s murder.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2016.