Farooq Sattar attacks British newspaper

Sattar says allegations that differences within MQM may be reason behind killing of Dr Imran hurt MQM supporters.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader and MNA Dr Farooq Sattar wrote a letter to British newspaper Guardian to register the party’s protest against an article it carried quoting sources claiming that Dr Imran Farooq’s death was a result of rows within the MQM. The article was published on the Guardian’s website on September 26 and in the newspaper the following day.

Sattar denied the allegation, attributed to unnamed sources, and said that those who say that Farooq was at odds with the MQM may have a “political axe to grind”. He claimed that “there were no internal divisions in the MQM which might have led to his murder. Dr Imran Farooq was the founder member of the MQM and remained the party convener of its central co-ordination committee until his last breath.”

Condemning the article, Sattar said that it has hurt millions of MQM workers and supporters.

Farooq’s murder on September 16 in Edgware, north London, is being investigated by the Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism branch because of the political dimension to the killing, the Guardian reported. He was attacked on his way home from work.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2010.