Drawing a line: ‘MQM won’t let British police interfere in party matters’

Dr Farooq Sattar says they will cooperate in murder investigations.

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will cooperate with the British police in their investigations into the murder of their founder member, Dr Imran Farooq, but it will not allow them to interfere in the party’s political matters.

MQM’s parliamentarian Dr Farooq Sattar shared these views with The Express Tribune on Thursday. “We want the killers of Dr Farooq to be arrested as soon as possible but we won’t accept their interference into our party matters.”

On Thursday, MQM chief Altaf Hussain also addressed the members of the Rabita Committee and told them that the country was going through a sensitive time as it faced huge challenges, such as the worsening law and order, and internal and external dangers. To overcome these challenges and to become a progressive nation, people should work together and play their part, he said.

Altaf, who last Sunday had created uproar by voluntarily stepping down as party head, and then took back his decision, did not discuss anything in his address about the ongoing murder investigations of Dr Imran Farooq.



The MQM chief had resigned after he accepted that the Scotland Yard had carried out a raid at his house in June over suspicions of money laundering and his involvement in the murder. After the workers and his supporters pleaded, he took back his resignation.

Farooq, who was the founder member of the party, was found murdered outside his home in London in 2010. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police in London had told The Express Tribune that a significant amount of money was seized in the raid from the house of the MQM chief. However, the spokesperson did not disclose whether the politician is being questioned over it. Another spokesperson said that if a money laundering case is established, then it would be treated as a financial case, separate from the murder case of Dr Imran Farooq.



Meanwhile, the MQM is filing its candidates for MPAs on seats which are vacant in Orangi Town, North Nazimabad and Korangi. It will announce the final list of candidates by next week.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2013.