Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has registered a case against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain for the alleged murder of senior party leader Imran Farooq.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has registered a case against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain for the alleged murder of senior party leader Imran Farooq.
FIA officials said the case against Mr Hussain and six others involves conspiracy, abetment and murder of Farooq in London.
One official said FIA’s counter-terrorism wing (CTW) had registered a case against Mr Hussain, Mohammed Anwar, Iftikhar Hussain, Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim, Kashif Khan Kamran and Syed Mohsin Ali for allegedly murdering senior MQM leader and ex-parliamentarian Farooq in September 2010 in London.
“CTW has registered the case on charges of conspiracy, assistance, abetment and ultimate assassination of Dr Imran Farooq under sections 302, 34, 109, 120 B of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act,” the FIA official said.
He said the three accused in the custody of the agency, during a joint investigations with Scotland Yard, had confessed to killing Farooq and had named all the accused mentioned in the first information report, including Mr Hussain. The FIR has been registered on the basis of the joint investigations.
Gohar Ali Khan, a Supreme Court lawyer, said the government of Pakistan could register the case against any of its citizens under even if the crime committed was out of Pakistan.
“However, it will always be difficult for the government to show much evidence during the trial or prosecution,” he added.
He said the government might seek records from the UK authorities and can ask for the extradition of the accused.
The MQM chief holds dual citizenship in UK and Pakistan, and is already being investigated by Scotland Yard.
An official of the ministry of interior said that Mr Hussain could be extradited to Pakistan.
Farooq, one of the founding members of MQM, was murdered in London outside his residence under mysterious circumstances in 2010, and the London metropolitan police have been investigating the case since then.
