MQM-India claims: London police says Tariq Mir’s statement not its property

The purported testimony gave details of MQM’s alleged ties with India.

KARACHI:

The London Metropolitan Police has clarified that a leaked transcript, purportedly the testimony of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Tariq Mir to the London police, is not its property.

The three-page statement with most of its text censored with black ink was shown by a Pakistani television anchor in his talk show on Friday, claiming that a British official had emailed it to him.

The transcript describing details of MQM’s alleged ties with the Indian government sent shockwaves across the country just days after a damning BBC report had made similar claims citing a Pakistani source.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on Tuesday, a London Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the leaked statement was not its property. Regarding the authenticity of the transcript, he said: “They are not recognised police documents.”

According to the document, Mir allegedly spoke to the London police at the Edgware police station on May 30, 2012, and recorded his statement “voluntarily and was not under arrest”.



The document, which created an uproar amongst political and journalistic circles, alleged that the MQM leaders had met officials of the Indian spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in different cities across Europe.

Mir supposedly went on to say that the party had been receiving money from India since 1994, and that MQM chief Altaf Hussain was getting the funds through different sources. He claimed that 800,000 pounds were paid to the party every year and that only four people, Mir, Altaf, slain leader Dr Imran Farooq and Mohammad Anwar, knew about the Indian funding, as it was a secret.

MQM spokesperson Wasay Jalil, who is in London, said the party was aware of the London police’s rejection of the alleged confessional statement. “We have no further comment to make at this time. But the media must play a positive role rather than speculate without basis,” he added.

In a clarification via email to BBC Urdu, London Metropolitan Police Spokesman Alan Crockford had confirmed that after carefully investigating the Pakistani media reports about Mir’s confession, the police can confirm that no such documents are part of its record.


Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2015.