Body expected this weekend

The body of Imran Farooq is expected to reach Karachi over the coming weekend.

KARACHI: The body of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Imran Farooq is expected to reach Karachi over the coming weekend, it was revealed on Monday after a meeting of the MQM Rabita Committee.

After numerous changes in the schedule for the body to be handed over to the family, MQM sources revealed on Monday that while detectives from Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command are currently handling the investigation, Farooq’s body is likely to be handed over to the family some time over this week. If this happens, Farooq’s funeral prayers will first be held in London on Thursday, after which the body is expected to be flown to Karachi on Friday. It is likely that it will reach Karachi on Saturday.

MQM sources revealed that the namaz-e-janaza is expected to be offered at Jinnah Ground on Saturday, after which he is likely to be buried at the Shuhada Qabristan in Azizabad.

Meanwhile, all MNAs belonging to the MQM have been summoned to Karachi, while the party announced that it would suspend all its organisational activities till the burial. Interestingly, the Awami National Party (ANP) in Sindh announced that all of its wards will also limit their political activities till the funeral.

On the other hand, Scotland Yard has yet to arrive at a conclusion regarding Farooq’s murder. After the MQM leader was stabbed to death outside his apartment building in London on September 16, the Yard initiated its investigations, which so far suggest that the key leader may have been killed over a business dispute.

Farooq used to work at a store which he partly owned. He bought the store in 2008 and, according to sources, was trying to sell it. While the investigators are not ruling out the possibility that the murder may have resulted from a dispute over the sale of the store, no arrests have been made as yet.

with additional writing by Rabia Ashfaque

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2010.