Imran Farooq murder case: MQM chief’s ‘business address’ raided, confirms Scotland Yard

MQM spokesman denies incident; foreign ministry says too early to jump to conclusions.

The suspense only seems to deepen with each new piece of information.

The unnamed place raided in London by police a few days ago in connection with the murder of former parliamentarian Dr Imran Farooq has turned out to be an office of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) – Dr Farooq’s own party.

London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed that a search and raid operation was carried out at the “business address” of MQM leader Altaf Hussain. The press office of the Metropolitan Police told the BBC that the search continued for two consecutive days at the site. However, it was stressed that no arrests had been made, and no person was detained for interrogation.

Saying that investigations into Dr Farooq’s murder were ongoing, an official of the Metropolitan Police told the BBC by phone that the raid was conducted on Thursday and the police completed its search on Friday evening.

However, the MQM’s spokesman in its London secretariat was conspicuous by his denial and ignorance of the entire episode.

Mustafa Azizabadi said he was unaware of any such search or raid operation. Asked if the police had raided Altaf’s “business address”, he said, “There is no such thing.” He added that despite journalists reporting it, there has been no such operation, the BBC reported.



On the other hand, the ministry of foreign affairs did come up with a statement on the raid. It said that it was premature to draw any conclusion from the raid. It added confidently that Pakistan was hopeful that the investigations would clear the MQM of any suspicions, terming the party not only a coalition partner of the government but also a representative of secular forces in the country.

Dr Farooq was stabbed to death in Green Lane on Edgware Road on 16 September, 2010 – but leads in the case have been few and far between – or at least not publicised. The anti-terrorist unit of the Metropolitan Police said in September that, a few months before his murder, Dr Farooq had been trying to create his own independent political “profile”.

The police force had hinted about the possibility that Dr Farooq might have been thinking of embarking on a new political career, and, therefore, it wanted to talk to everyone who were in contact with him from a political perspective.

It also noted that Dr Farooq had created a new Facebook profile in 2010 and had established many new contacts on the social forum.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2012.