London police yet to respond to FIA request for sharing evidence.
“The record obtained and the witnesses’ statements are to be confronted with the accused Moazzam Ali Khan by the joint investigation team (JIT) to reach a logical conclusion and also confront with forensic as well as documentary evidence to be obtained from the Scotland Yard,” the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) stated in a progress report submitted in an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Monday.
Despite all the evidence collected against the suspects, the FIA report said that a “letter has been dispatched to Scotland Yard through diplomatic channel to obtain the evidence collected by them in the said case”.
It said that the evidence will help the FIA in determining that the assassination was the alleged result of a conspiracy hatched by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and senior party members Muhammad Anwar and Iftikhar Hussain in the United Kingdom and Pakistan.
Three suspects, Khalid Shamim, Syed Mohsin Ali and Moazzam Ali Khan, were currently standing trial. One other suspect, Kashif Khan Kamran, who according to the FIA was a co-accused and allegedly helped Mohsin Ali in killing Dr Farooq, was apparently still on the run. However, some officials speculated that he may have been picked up by intelligence agencies and died in their custody.
The report has revealed that “Kamran and Mohsin Ali committed the murder and returned to Pakistan and then further to Afghanistan soon after committing the crime”. The FIA informed the court that bank record, travel history, documents submitted by Mohsin Ali to obtain the UK student visa and the record from the consultant has been obtained.
The FIA, however said, the crucial evidence including “CCTV footage, finger prints and DNA report has been requested from Scotland Yard” to complete evidence against Mohsin Ali.
It also revealed that Khalid Shamim and Moazzam Ali have been the main characters and abettors, respectively, in the case. The FIA said that Shamim has been the main character in the conspiracy-making and its enactment. “From recruitment of the assassins to the fleeing of the accused to Afghanistan, he had been playing the main role in the story,” the FIA said.
Moazzam Ali, being an abettor, provided the funding when needed and also the documents required for obtaining of the visa, it said. “The accused provided an amount of Rs1.7 million to Syed Mohsin Ali for submitting the fee of course in the institution in the UK,” the FIA stated. The FIA said that he (Ali) also provided experience certificate of his company (COMNET Enterprises) to Ali and Kamran for obtaining the British visa.
Meanwhile, ATC-I Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi dismissed an application seeking immediate release of the three suspects after the FIA failed to produce them during the last many hearings.
When the case was taken up on Monday, the FIA submitted an interim charge-sheet in the case. The court, however, returned the charge-sheet identifying several mistakes in it. The court directed the FIA to resubmit a fresh charge-sheet with correct dates in the next hearing, the court officials said.
When the case was taken up on Monday, FIA submitted an interim charge-sheet in the case. The court, however, returned the charge-sheet identifying several mistakes in it. Later, the FIA resubmitted the charge-sheet with correct dates, court officials said.
Two suspects, Khalid Shamim and Mohsin Ali, have already recorded their confessional statements confessing that the slain MQM leader was killed as he was a “potent threat to the leadership of MQM.” Moazzam has not yet recorded confessional statement in the case.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2016.
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