Imran Farooq killer may be hiding in Afghanistan: JIT member

Says accused called his family from an Afghanistan number

ISLAMABAD:

A day after Pakistan’s security czar announced that the investigation into Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq’s murder case had been completed, investigators claimed on Friday that a man involved in the killing might be hiding in Afghanistan’s Waish Mandi area. Farooq was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his residence in London on September 2010.

“Kashif Khan Kamran, a key accused in the Imran Farooq murder case, was traced to the Waish Mandi area on the Afghan side of the border,” revealed a member of the joint investigation team (JIT) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The development came a week after Islamabad widened the scope of the investigation hours after a Scotland Yard team left for London. The team was here to quiz the main accused, Mohsin Ali.

According to a JIT member, Kamran’s family had disclosed to the investigators that he (Kamran) had called them last month from an Afghanistan number.

The number reveals that he is living in the surrounding areas of Waish Mandi, near the Iran border, the member added.

Quoting Kamran’s friends Ali and Khalid Shamim’s confession to the JIT, headed by senior FIA officer Inam Ghani, the member said the two friends had returned to Pakistan but Kamran had not accompanied them.

Both Ali and Shamim were arrested two months ago by the law enforcement agencies while they were crossing the Chaman border.

“Kamran’s family confirmed that he (Kamran) was in the UK between September 6, 2010 and September 16, 2010,” said the JIT investigator. “The investigation team is going to submit its final report to the interior ministry this month.”

Detectives from London’s Metropolitan Police Service Counter Terrorism Command (known within the Met as SO15) have also shared some findings about the main accused Ali and Kamran, which would prove helpful in tracing Kamran’s whereabouts, added the investigator. “The Met Police investigators continue to maintain close liaison with us.”

Another investigator added: “Through the ministries of foreign affairs and interior, we are in contact with the Afghan authorities to locate Kamran.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the UK government had not approached Islamabad for handing over the three accused currently in Pakistan’s custody.

The Scotland Yard team has already questioned Ali, Shamim and Moazzam Ali Khan. “Investigation into the case has been concluded,” said the minister.“We have fulfilled our international obligations and the London police is satisfied with our cooperation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2015.