As usual , and as desired by mqm, Karachi was gripped by panic on Thursday and parts of the throbbing metropolitan came to a virtual standstill after reports came regarding the murder of top Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Imran Farooq in London by an unidentified attacker.
He was expelled by the Bhai from MQM for some differences on May 12, incident but again Saleem Shezad group prevails and he is out of the picture now….whom should we blame now, ANP, extablishment or karachi Police…………………very sad…

100% correct.no doubt aboutit. The way Ataf Bhai was crying wating for the media to televised it world wide was an excellent show for MQM..

Once again MQM has proved that only Altaf Shib has the right to draw the lines for the party policies. Whosoever differ from his policies will not survive as in the case of Dr.Sahib. He assumed that by just quitting the MQM he could survive but he was wrong, MQM never alowed his memebers to live with differences. A day of mournng for mqm activists and more people will die in next ten days. God help us to get rid of this dirty politics

Indeed Death like this is sad and very tragic. Despite political differences such incidents must be condemned.

Daily Dawn September 1999

Imran Farooq in London: seeks asylum By Nasir Malick
Week Ending:11 September 1999 Issue : 05/37
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1999/11sep99.html#imra

LONDON, Sept 9: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Secretary General Dr Imran Farooq surfaced in London after remaining in hiding for more than seven years in Pakistan and has sought political asylum. “I arrived in London yesterday (Wednesday) evening and have sought political asylum in the United Kingdom,” he said. Sporting a beard, the MQM secretary general who had been declared a terrorist and an absconder by the Sindh government, appeared fresh and in good health as he sat next to MQM chief Altaf Hussain who kissed him before introducing him to the reporters. The Sindh government had initially announced head-money of Rs700,000 for the “capture of Dr Imran, dead or alive”. On Jan 2, 1995 it raised the head money to Rs3 million through an official notification.

The MQM Secretary General said he made several attempts in the past to leave the country but did not succeed. He refused to divulge, however, details of how he reached London but expressed his gratitude to all those in Karachi who provided him refuge in their homes without fear of state persecution.

MQM as cunning criminal mafia would use this opportunity to spread violence against pakhtoons but as Imran Farooq is killed in London, now they should try to test london police ..and then see what happened.

hope london police will investigate matter in good way to identify killers and their links..

I think Imran Farooq had a laughing problem!

yes laughing, he could not control his laughter in the presence of Tafa Kalia, when Tafa Kalia tried his best to rally the awam for an inqilaab and no one , not even a child responded to his call for INQILAAB including the Mush-type Generals, this lack of attention and total ignoring of Tafa Kalia’s msg in such a manner, made Imran Farooq laugh uncontrollably and this caused him his life.

Remember, MQM has ISI/CIA/RAW agents of Pakistani origin in its two tiers of leadership, and they are the ones who are driving Tafa Kalia’s mind and Imran Farooq just couldnt stop laughing at the utter massive and mega ignoring of the call for INQIllab which cost him his life….

The person who killed him was the one who was supposed to take him to the birthday party of the Kalia…..he knew his assailant and ……urdu speaking mind set is very sensitive when someone laughs at them …..Farooq Sattar I think said that his assassination on the exact date of Tafa Kalia’s birthday is a message….(more or less meaning)

so yes, agencies are the ones who killed him cause agencies are now going to make MQM a joke!

Did you know that 2500 jiyalas were incorporated into a single institution of IB last year….and other thousands into ISI and you should know that ISI is a civilian idara controlled by an army officer. They have deputation officers from different wings of the armed forces along with a huge number of civilians….

So yes, the price of sarcastic laughter cost him his life……
I will tell you what will happen next, just wait for a public video of Tafa Kalia shedding tears and you will be amazed at how good he is at crying in front of audience and he will declare his love for him and read some dukhi poetry. Then you will also see a proper guard of honor for him from MQM people when his body goes to Pak for burial….and I guarantee you that in about 6 months the person who killed him will be vanishing and no one will even notice ….but the laughter of the Lambs of MQM will continue!

Mulla!

Its simple.. just link this murder with the plot to kill Khawaja sharif, and everything will fall in place. No need to go into any other details.

Imran Farooq murdered outside London home Prominent Pakistani politician found with head injuries and stab wounds in north London Vikram Dodd and David Batty
The Guardian, Friday 17 September 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/17/imran-farooq-murdered-london-home

Police at the scene in Green Lane, Edgware, north London, where Dr Imran Farooq – a leading member of the MQM – was found with head injuries and stab wounds. Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA
Scotland Yard has launched a murder inquiry after a senior Pakistani politician was found dead outside his London home.

Imran Farooq was a co-founder of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party. He was killed in broad daylight by at least one attacker who stabbed and beat him to death.

Detectives are hunting his attacker or attackers and interviewing witnesses. They are also trying to secure any CCTV footage from the part of north London where Farooq lived. He had come to Britain claiming he faced persecution.

Diplomatic sources told the Guardian there was shock about the killing, with one saying it was obvious he was killed by an enemy, but it remained to be seen whether the motive was personal, to do with rivalry within his party, or by people motivated by hatred of the MQM.

In recent weeks the MQM leader, Altaf Hussain, called for a revolution inPakistan as he tried to exploit anger over the extensive flooding in the country. There have been accusations that the ruling elites had botched the response.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “Police were called to Green Lane, Edgware shortly before 1730hrs on Thursday 16 September following reports of a serious assault.

“On arrival, officers found an Asian man, aged 50, with stab wounds and head injuries. Paramedics treated the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 1837hrs.

“Next of kin have been informed. We await formal identification. A postmortem examination will be scheduled in due course. The homicide and serious crime command are investigating.”

The MQM said Farooq had been living in exile in London since 1992. According to reports on the MQM website from 1999, he sought political asylum in the UK after a bounty was put on his head.

Farooq said he was implicated on a range of charges including criminal and terrorist activities but insisted the allegations were politically motivated.

He claimed in November 1992 that he was wanted “dead or alive”. “[This gave] licence and impunity to every individual in Pakistan to assassinate me,” he said.

Farooq, who was secretary general of the MQM, said he spent more than seven years in hiding in Karachi, southern Pakistan. “It was impossible for me to remain in Pakistan due to the continued threat on my life and liberty.”

The MQM is the fourth largest political party in Pakistan, and the dominant party in Karachi. It was founded in 1984 by Hussain, a former Chicago cab driver, and won broad support among the “mohajirs” – Muslims who fled India after partition in 1947. The party prided itself on its well-oiled machine and its secular, liberal outlook. But British police sources have said it was also linked to extortion, gun smuggling and South African crime networks.

The Karachi ruling party ‘run like the mafia’ from an office block in London · MQM accused of planning carnage which left 42 dead · Khan calls for leader in UK to face anti-terror charges Declan Walsh in Karachi and Matthew Taylor The Guardian, Saturday 2 June 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/02/uk.pakistan

Outside may be Karachi but inside the discreetly guarded room all minds are focused on London. The clock is set to British summer time and a pair of telephones connect to an office 5,000 miles away, from where a controversial Pakistani leader runs his political empire.
Altaf Hussain leads the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) – a powerful, popular and, critics say, thuggish political force that has a vice-like grip on Karachi. At “Nine Zero”, the party headquarters in a middle-class suburb, his presence looms large. A giant poster hangs over the entrance and reverential acolytes speak of “Altaf bhai”, or brother. But the great leader is missing.

For the past 16 years Mr Hussain has lived in self-imposed exile in the UK, first as an asylum seeker and now as a British citizen. Based in an office block on Edgware High Street in north London he rules by phone, directing his closest lieutenants in long, late-night conversations. But in Pakistan that arrangement has become a matter of controversy – one about to land at the British government’s door.

Yesterday the cricketer turned politician Imran Khan arrived in London to try to have Mr Hussain prosecuted under British anti-terror laws. Three weeks ago gunmen opened fire on a rally in support of the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, triggering a day of bloodshed that left 42 people dead. Mr Khan – as well as lawyers, human rights activists and opposition parties – accuse Mr Hussain of orchestrating the carnage from his sofa in London.

“The whole thing was planned. No British citizen is allowed to sit in London and direct terrorist operations abroad. So why should Altaf Hussain?” said Mr Khan who described the MQM as “a fascist movement run by criminals”.

If Pakistan has to arrest al-Qaida operatives then Britain has an obligation to pick up Mr Hussain, added Mr Khan, who plans to bring a petition to Downing Street. “There’s a war on terror going on but here we have Pakistan’s No 1 terrorist being given sanctuary by the British government,” he said.

The MQM denies the charges, and insists it was the victim and not the perpetrator of May 12. The party says 13 of its own activists were among the dead, and last week it produced a video from May 12 showing apparent supporters of the rival Pakistan People’s party firing their guns in the air. “This is a conspiracy against us. Our decision to hold a rally on May 12 may be open to criticism, but we were not involved in armed attacks,” said Dr Farooq Sattar, head of the party in Pakistan.

But Mr Hussain has little to say. At the MQM’s “International Secretariat” on Edgware High Street – a red brick office block opposite a supermarket – a party official said the leader was not available for comment. But he was happy to show the Guardian around the offices, which he confirmed was Mr Hussain’s London headquarters, and he vowed to repel any court action by Mr Khan.

The fight is getting personal. Back in Karachi graffiti slurs against Imran Khan appeared on walls and the MQM-dominated local government has banned him from the city for one month.

The MQM was founded in 1984 by Mr Hussain, a former Chicago cab driver, and won broad support among the “mohajirs” – Muslims who fled India after partition in 1947. The party prided itself on its well-oiled machine and its secular, liberal outlook. But it was also linked to extortion, gun smuggling and South African crime networks, according to a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity. “That’s what happens when a political party is run like the mafia,” he said.

Local reporters have a rich store of-tales from the 1990s. One said she found a severed hand as a warning in her front garden, another was kidnapped from his home.

But since it entered a coalition government with President Pervez Musharraf in 2002, the party has projected a different image based on secularism, economic development and support for the “war on terror”. Moderates such as the Karachi mayor, Mustafa Kamal, boast of new roads, sewage systems and billions of pounds in fresh investment. “MQM believes in every sect and religion. We are against extremism. We were the first people on the streets after 9/11,” he said.

But since May 12 the party’s aspirations of becoming a national force lie in shreds, and there are worrying echoes of past tactics. On Tuesday, three Karachi journalists with foreign news agencies found unmarked envelopes containing a single bullet on their car windscreens. Two of them had earlier been denounced as “anti-mohajir” by the MQM-linked Muhajir Rabita Council.

Will Mr Hussain ever come home? At Nine Zero, where beefy young men with baseball caps stand guard, there is little sign. “We do not want him to come back to Karachi; it is too dangerous here,” said parliamentarian Faisal Subzwari.

But there is always hope. A few doors down Mr Hussain’s deserted terraced house is waiting, protected by blastproof metal shutters. For now, though, it has just one occupant – a 24-hour telephone operator.

Running Pakistan’s biggest city – from London By Alastair Lawson BBC News, London Last Updated: Wednesday, 16 May 2007, 11:33 GMT 12:33 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6658231.stm

Altaf Hussain is one of Pakistan’s most powerful political exiles

At first sight it may appear that there is not much to link a nondescript office block in the heart of north London suburbia with the leadership of one of Pakistan’s most influential political parties.

But it is from the somewhat drab streets of the London Borough of Barnet that hundreds of thousands of people in the country’s largest city, Karachi, receive their orders.

The “International Secretariat” of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) is based in the suburb of Edgware, and from the first floor of a grey tower block their leader, Altaf Hussain, addresses huge audiences in the southern port city.

Mr Hussain says he lives in London because he fears he would be assassinated if he went back to Pakistan.

The party mostly comprises – and is supported by – the families of Muslim Urdu-speaking people known as Mohajirs who migrated to Pakistan from India around the time of partition.

Gun battles

Mr Hussain speaks to his supporters by a conference telephone connected to loud speakers strategically located across Karachi.

At least 41 people died in street battles over the weekend

Thousands of people down tools to listen to his regular addresses from London, even though he has not been back to the country since 1992 – and some of his “sermons” have been known to last longer than four hours.
The MQM’s presence in Britain has become more controversial of late because of weekend violence in Karachi in which at least 40 people were killed.
Opposition parties say that much of the violence was orchestrated by the MQM’s leadership in London. They allege that the party called its supporters out onto the streets to defend President Musharraf’s decision to suspend the country’s Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The MQM – which is allied to President Musharraf’s supporters in the Pakistani parliament – is alleged to have mobilised a large body of supporters to prevent the chief justice from leaving the airport when he visited Karachi on Saturday.

In the worst violence, supporters of the party clashed with activists from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in gun battles that lasted longer than an hour.

We are the last bastion against the Talebanisation of the country

MQM senior co-ordinator M Anwar

MQM members are alleged to have shot at opposition protesters holding a march in support of the dismissed chief justice, killing at least five people.

“I can absolutely deny that our supporters were involved in any of the violence,” says the party’s London-based senior co-ordinator, M Anwar.

“We were the only party in the city that had permission from the authorities to hold a rally in the city on Saturday, so why would we shoot out own supporters?”
Extortion and gangsterism

He says that the killings are the fault of the PPP, the Awami National Party and an alliance of Islamic parties who “wanted to politicise the issue of the chief justice’s suspension”.

“It is the death squads of these parties who were responsible for the carnage, and nothing to do with MQM,” he said.

Mr Hussain addresses thousands from London

Mr Anwar says that the MQM – which has 42 seats in the 168-member Sindh assembly and 19 members in the 342-member Pakistani National Assembly – is one of the few parties in Pakistan that believes in the rule of law and multiparty democracy.

“We are the last bastion against the Talebanisation of the country,” he says.

Mr Anwar says that, even though Altaf Hussain has not been back to Pakistan for more than a decade, support for the MQM is growing – both in Sindh, where it is the main constituent of the governing coalition – and elsewhere in
the country.

“We are not just supported by Mohajirs, but also have the backing of Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochs and Kashmiris,” he says.

“Recently we have gained support in the province of Punjab and have even made in-roads in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.”

The MQM denies its reputation for extortion and gangsterism in Karachi, and insists its main priority is to protect vulnerable people in the city and the rest of Sindh.

‘Outsourcing’

Mr Anwar says that the MQM’s support for President Musharraf – a Mohajir – is not unconditional and that he must soon make a decision as to whether he can remain head of the army as well as president.

The office in London is largely staffed by volunteers

The party says that the president’s efforts to remove the chief justice should be determined only by the Supreme Court.

On the subject of when – if ever – Mr Hussain will return to Pakistan and directly lead his growing band of supporters, Mr Anwar was more cagey.

“Altaf Hussain has frequently been warned by the security forces that if he goes back to Pakistan he will be targeted by mad mullahs and those who support jihad.
“If the president and the prime minister of Pakistan – both recently the subjects of assassination attempts – cannot be adequately protected, I’m not sure it would be sensible for him to go back. “Anyway, in these days of high-tech communication why not govern Karachi from London? It’s a new form of outsourcing.”

Conspiracy to kill CJ LHC Khawaja Sharif AND AYAZ AMIR [PML-N] Saturday, September 18, 2010, Shawwal 08, 1431 A.H
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/sep2010-daily/18-09-2010/col4.htm

Futhermore, MQM faced worst kind of State Oppression at the hands of Authorities just for nothing: Human rights crisis in Karachi .Introduction
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA33/001/1996/en/9ae57e3d-eb13-11dd-98d3-79fb64d46c94/asa330011996en.pdf

Genuine complain were there but it didn’t need Military Operation: According to US State Deptt/Homeland Security Document: In the mid-1990s, the MQM-A was heavily involved in the widespread political violence that wracked Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, particularly Karachi, the port city that is the country’s commercial capital. MQM-A militants fought government forces, breakaway MQM factions, and militants from other ethnic-based movements. In the mid-1990s, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and others accused the MQM-A and a rival faction of summary killings, torture, and other abuses (see, e.g., AI 1 Feb 1996; U.S. DOS Feb 1996). The MQM-A routinely denied involvement in violence. Pakistan: Information on Mohajir/Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Altaf (MQM-A) http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,USCIS,,PAK,,414fe5aa4,0.html

The kind of City hall politics that the MQM presides over in Karachi, though, make Chicago in the 1930s seem like a model of good governance. However, last week’s murder was not the first time that Mr Hussain’s actitivies in London have come under scrutiny. In 2007, he was accused of stirring up trouble when followers of the MQM allegedly opened fire on anti-government protesters, sparking clashes in which more than 40 people were killed.

Pakistan politician murder: have Karachi’s brutal politics reached London? Neighbours in Edgware thought Imran Farooq just worked in a pharmacy, but then he was murdered – victim of the brutal politics of Pakistan’s biggest city. By Colin Freeman, Chief Foreign Correspondent, and Rob Crilly in Karachi Published: 7:57PM BST 18 Sep 2010 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8011271/Pakistan-politician-murder-have-Karachis-brutal-politics-reached-London.html

Police at the scene in Green Lane in Edgware where Dr Imran Farooq was found with head injuries and stab wounds Photo: PA

As a man who was more than used to looking over his shoulder, Imran Farooq would no doubt have found the nondescript north London maisonette the perfect bolthole. Surrounded by quiet streets lined with apple trees, Green Court in Edgware was the very picture of suburban anonymity, the kind of place where neighbourliness typically means little more intrusive than the odd polite “hello”.

Late on Thursday afternoon, though, an area that could have been the setting for a sitcom like Terry and June became the centre of a rather grittier drama, as Mr Farooq was stabbed to death outside his home. Alerted by shouts and screams, neighbours saw him in a violent struggle with another man, who beat the 50-year-old Pakistani around the head and then knifed him repeatedly.
It was a brutal end for a man who – to his neighbours at least – seemed a respectable figure, working at a nearby pharmacy and living with his wife, Shumaila, and their two young sons Alishan, 5, and Wajdan, 3.

“None of us even knew there was a politician living here,” said Bhiru Malde, 60, a neighbour, as he stood near the police cordon yesterday, from where boiler-suited forensic experts from Scotland Yard could be seen conducting finger-tip searches of nearby gardens. “This is a very quiet area, but when I came back at 6pm there were police everywhere.”

The murder was, however, all too much in keeping with the other job Mr Farooq held down – as a leading figure in the London branch of Pakistan’s Muttahida Quami Movement, a party with a notorious reputation even in a country steeped in political violence.

The MQM’s headquarters in the capital lies just down the road on Edgware High Street, a drab, unassuming office block typical of the hundreds of bureaus maintained by foreign political parties with followings in London’s myriad diaspora communities. Yet in the case of the MQM, the “international secretariat”, which stands opposite a Lidl supermarket and a Turkish grocer, is no mere diplomatic outpost.

Instead, it is the very nerve centre from which the party directs its affairs in Pakistan, and in particular its stronghold in Karachi, the country’s largest city, which it effectively runs. Holding court in the office nearly every day is Mr Farooq’s boss and MQM’s leader, Altaf Hussain, a stocky, moustachioed firebrand who effectively acts as a one-man government in exile, barking orders to minions in Karachi via mobile phone and addressing huge street rallies via televised links ups to the Edgware Road. Such is his iron grip on his party 5,000 miles away that all key meetings are held on Greenwich Meantime, keeping his Karachi-based staff up late into the night.
The kind of City hall politics that the MQM presides over in Karachi, though, make Chicago in the 1930s seem like a model of good governance.

Thousands have died in political violence there over the last three decades, as the MQM has slugged it out with other factions for control of a metropolis of 18 million that includes the country’s main port and generates 50 per cent of Pakistan’s tax revenues.

Officials blamed the MQM for much of the violence, and in the early 1990s, both Mr Hussain and Dr Farooq found themselves on the run on charges of murder and kidnapping, following claims that the party was running networks of torture chambers around its strongholds. By the late 1990s, though, both men had managed to claim asylum in Britain, after telling the authorities that the charges against them were politically motivated.

It is in this murky world that Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command unit is now looking for clues to Dr Farooq’s murderer. While they have not ruled out the possibility that it was just a mugging gone wrong, the absence of any sign of robbery, and the eyewitness reports that his killer was a fellow Asian, indicate that it was politically motivated.

One theory is that enemies within his own party may have been responsible, another is that it was the work of the Pakistani Taliban, of which the MQM, as a secular party, is a prominent critic. Mr Hussain also recently angered the ruling Pakistan People’s Party of President Asif Ali Zardari, when, in yet another televised rant from London, he said the MQM was ready to lead a “French Revolution” to mop up the chaos left by the recent devastating floods.

Detectives have so far been wary of speculating on a motive, however, aware that the outcome of the case may be politically explosive.

His killing has already sparked riots in Karachi, a powder-keg city at the best of times, with his supporters torching cars and firing guns in the air: Pakistani security officials fear that if, or when, the finger of blame is pointed at one faction or another, Karachi may erupt into all-out bloodshed.

MQM supporters in London told The Sunday Telegraph that they were “shocked” at the murder, describing Dr Farooq as a “poet and philosopher” rather than a political gangster. “We are not aware of any threat against him,” said Mohammad Raza Haroon, a senior party official. “He was such a nice, gentle friendly person, and it is a huge loss. Senior members of the party have lived in Britain for many years and felt safe, even though many have been killed in Pakistan.”

Others however paint a rather different picture of both Dr Farooq and the movement he helped lead. The MQM has been a streetfighting force in the country’s politics ever since its formation in 1984, when Mr Hussain, who had previously worked as a taxi driver in Chicago, convened a party to represent the Muhajirs, Urdu-speaking Muslims who fled India after partition in 1947 and who had complained of ethnic discrimination from other Pakistanis.

Supporters say it has tried to shed its violent image of the 1990s, when it waged open warfare with its Pashtu-speaking rivals of the Awami National Party, and today it is proud of its record in improving life in the city’s sprawling slums, but it still works through protection rackets and thuggery, according to some.

“I hate the way they operate,” said one Karachi resident. “This is not the way of Islam but they say that it is the only way to get things done. They have a very slick operation.”

More serious allegations, though, were made in the early 1990s when the Pakistani army launched a crackdown against escalating violence in the region.
Military officials claimed they uncovered 23 torture chambers in MQM-run offices, schools and hospitals in Karachi, where electric drills would be used on political prisoners.

Gory photographs of blood splashed walls, chains hanging from ceilings and electrical torture implements were reproduced in Pakistani national newspapers, which reported that some of the chambers were allegedly kept as rape cells.

Dr Farooq and Mr Hussain – along with 150 party workers – were named in cases brought before a special anti-terrorist court in Karachi, accusing them of murder, kidnapping, robbery and violence against political opponents.

One victim, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party formerly run by the late Benazir Bhutto, told Amnesty International that he was abducted by four MQM members who then blindfolded him and beat him with leather whips and wooden sticks. “They hit me on the face and the chest, for many hours,” he said.

“Before they released me on the fifth day they drilled a hole in my leg, with an electric drill. I fainted.”
True, exaggeration and smears have always been part and parcel of Pakistani politics, but some believe the charges had a degree of substance. “The leadership always said they didn’t use violence – or at least only in self-defence – but it seems impossible that someone like Farooq didn’t know that his party had set up torture chambers,” said a political commentator, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

How British asylum officials concluded that such serious allegations were pure fabrication remains unclear.
According to one well placed Pakistani source, concerns that the two would be killed or tortured if returned to Pakistan may have over-ridden doubts about whether it was appropriate for them to remain in Britain.

Several of Mr Hussain’s relatives had also been murdered in the 1990s, lending credence to his claims of political persecution.

However, last week’s murder was not the first time that Mr Hussain’s actitivies in London have come under scrutiny. In 2007, he was accused of stirring up trouble when followers of the MQM allegedly opened fire on anti-government protesters, sparking clashes in which more than 40 people were killed.

British government officials said that because Mr Hussain had committed no crime on British soil, there was no reason to revoke his citizenship, a stance that drew bitter criticism at the time from Imran Khan, the former cricketer who now runs his own political party in Pakistan.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph last week, he said he had contacted both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown when they were prime ministers to accuse them of “double standards” by waging war on the Taliban and al Qaeda while sheltering MQM politicians accused of abuses.

“I tried to convince the British police that they had to probe this,” he said. “We cannot have someone living there as head of the party when we know the party is involved in violence. Scotland Yard already had a file. The only way they are able to control Karachi is by staying in London, far from the danger.”

Now, with blood being spilt in London rather than Pakistan, what was originally a relatively small Scotland Yard file on the party is likely to become much bigger. In coming days, detectives are expected to interview senior party officials in what is likely to be a complex, politically-charged and hugely costly investigation, the outcome of which could also affect British-Pakistani relations. “They have been asking us to fight the war on terror but at the same time giving these people passports,” said Mr Khan. “But as long as Britain was safe, it didn’t seem to matter.”

Additional reporting by Nick Meo in Edgware

S. Ali Raza says: September 18, 2010 at 7:40 am Its simple.. just link this murder with the plot to kill Khawaja sharif, and everything will fall in place. No need to go into any other details.
=========================================
SC clarification Monday, September 20, 2010 Shawwal 10, 1431 A.H. http://www.thenews.com.pk/20-09-2010/Top-Story/712.htm ISLAMABAD: Terming the headline —’CJs express concern over judges security; threats from admin’ — of a news report, regarding the security related meeting, that appeared in The News on Sunday as misleading, the Supreme Court office, in its press release issued here, has clarified the same as under: “It is clarified that the above-mentioned caption is misleading in so far as it gives the impression that the judges of the Superior Courts have direct clear threats from administrative officials, which is not the true reflection of the issue discussed in the above mentioned meeting nor the press release issued in this regard refers to any such threats. In fact, the meeting discussed the security related situation in view of the purported information ‘emanating from administrative authorities’ in relation to the alleged plot to target the Hon’ble Chief Justice of Lahore High Court as mentioned in the report of the Special Branch of the Government of Punjab.

“Unfortunately, your above-mentioned captions portray the totally different message as if the Hon’ble judges of Superior Courts are being threatened by the administrative officials, which is not the case. It is expected that an appropriate clarification may please be published prominently, preferably at the same spot on the front pages of the two newspapers in order to set the record straight.”

Altaf accuses foreign powers of plotting to eliminate him
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque Monday, 27 Sep, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/altaf-accuses-foreign-powers-of-plotting-to-eliminate-him-790

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that ‘international powers’ had in the past tried to eliminate the MQM through the Pakistani establishment, but now they were trying to get rid of him.

In an open letter to party workers, which was also released to the media on Sunday, Mr Hussain said that ‘international powers’ could eliminate him anytime and they (MQM workers) should be mentally prepared for such an eventuality.

He said that he had given a philosophy and ideology for struggle against generals, feudal lords and chieftains who assumed “power through unfair means”.

He said it was not only the aristocracy which benefited from the mediaeval system, but international powers also used it to their advantage.

“International powers used the Pakistani establishment which includes the army, ISI and other powerful agencies to eliminate the MQM. When these forces failed to achieve their objective through conspiracies and barbarity and by slaying thousands of MQM workers, international powers are now trying to eliminate Altaf Hussain,” he said in the letter.

Mr Hussain said the murder of Dr Imran Farooq was a link in the chain and news analysis and columns published in the international press gave a clear indication about which party and personality were being targeted.

He referred to the BBC programme “Hard Talk” in which the host asked coordination committee member Mohammad Anwar why the MQM leader (Mr Hussain) had not been removed.

“This has implications for the situation… what was the purpose of this question?”

Mr Hussain said he did not have strength to withstand the might of powers and, therefore, workers should be mentally prepared for any eventuality because of “these powers can eliminate Altaf Hussain anytime”.

“If I am assassinated, it would be your duty to carry forward the mission, and objectives and to disseminate my ideology and teachings by sacrificing your personal interests and remaining united,” he said.

The release of the letter was followed by an MQM statement condemning the nefarious plan to eliminate its chief.

It called upon the British government to provide adequate security to the MQM leader in London.

This was the crux of a meeting of the MQM coordination committee held simultaneously in Karachi and London on Sunday, said the statement.

It said that after the assassination of Dr Farooq, a conspiracy was hatched to malign the MQM and its leader Mr Hussain, triggering concern among MQM supporters and workers worldwide.

“The coordination committee reposed full confidence in the leadership of Mr Hussain and resolved that they would remain committed and continue their struggle under him.”

Foreign Power Working against MQM? US Ambassador visits Nine Zero Updated at: 1805 PST, Monday, September 27, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest-news/1912.htm

KARACHI: US Ambassador Anne Patterson on Monday paid a farewell visit to the headquarters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Nine Zero and expressed condolence on the demise of former convener Rabita Committee Dr Imram Farooq. She was accompanied by US Consul General in Karachi William Martin. She was received by the deputy convener MQM Rabita Committee Dr Farooq Sattar.

Later, talking to media Dr Farooq Sattar said that MQM leadership expressed concerns over the conviction of Pakistani scientist Dr Afia Siddiqui by US court.
The party also sought US support and influence in seeking security for MQM leader Altaf Hussain in London, he added. Dr Sattar said that US Ambassador expressed condolences over the assassination of Dr Imran Farooq in London.

Saleem Shahzad expelled from MQM Rabita Committee Saturday, February 14, 2009 [The News and Jang] http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:daTZSTmCaXgJ:www.thenews.com.pk/print3.asp%3Fid%3D20309+aleem+Shahzad+expelled+from+MQM+Rabita+Committee&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has expelled Saleem Shahzad from its Rabita Committee on account of his personal and secret activities and contacts. Besides, MQM activists have been asked not to contact another Rabita Committee member, Muhammad Anwar, on any issue.

According to a press release issued by the MQM on Friday, anyone found contacting Saleem Shahzad would be expelled from the party. Similarly, the MQM activists have been directed instead of contacting Muhammad Anwar they may contact the Rabita Committee in Karachi or the party’s international secretariat. The party took the decision on the basis of Anwar’s suspicious activities and his disinterest in the affairs of the party, the statement said.

Meanwhile, MQM’s senior member and in-charge of its Labour Division Anees Ahmed Khan, advocate, has voluntarily resigned from the basic membership of the MQM, the statement said.

Another MQM statement said on the grounds of serious violation of organisational discipline and involvement in activities outside the organisation, the Rabita Committee had suspended the following activists of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO) for an indefinite period: Ejaz Qureshi and Mohsin Shahab (University of Karachi unit); and Mohsin Ahsanul Haq (NED unit). When contacted, MQM spokesman Faisal Sabazwari offered no comments, saying: “Whatever the MQM has to say in this regard, it has stated in the press release.”

Saleem Shahzad expelled from MQM By Our Staff Reporter
February 14, 2009 http://www.dawn.com/2009/02/14/nat3.htm

KARACHI, Feb 13: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement expelled on Friday its senior leader Syed Saleem Shahzad from the party for his alleged ‘mysterious’ activities. The decision was taken at an emergency meeting of the party’s coordination committee. A statement issued from the MQM’s London secretariat said any party member found in contact with Mr Shahzad would lose his membership.

A former MNA and London-based MQM leader, Anis Ahmed Advocate, resigned from the party and stated that in future he would have nothing to do with the views and actions of the MQM, the statement said. Meanwhile, the MQM directed its workers not to contact Mohammad Anwar, another senior London-based member of the coordination committee.

Imran Farooq murder: the bloody past of the MQM – The party of Imran Farooq, who has been assassinated in London, has a dark reputation that it has never left behind Declan Walsh in Islamabad guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 September 2010 14.34 BST Article history http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/17/imran-farooq-assassination-mqm-pakistan

Altaf Hussain, the London-based head of MQM, is comforted as he prays for his murdered right-hand man Imran Farooq. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
It is one of the great enigmas of Pakistani politics. For over 18 years the affairs of Karachi, the country’s largest city and thrumming economic hub, have been run from a shabby office block more than 4,000 miles away in a suburb of north London.

The man at the heart of this unusual situation is Altaf Hussain, a barrel-shaped man with a caterpillar moustache and a vigorous oratorical style who inspires both reverence and fear in the sprawling south Asian city he effectively runs by remote control.

Hussain is the undisputed tsar of the mohajirs, the descendents of Muslim migrants who flooded into Pakistan during the tumult of partition from India in 1947, and who today form Karachi’s largest ethnic group.

A firebrand of student politics, Hussain galvanized the mohajirs into a potent political force in 1984, when he formed the Mohajir Qaumi Movement – now known as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM. The party swept elections in the city in 1987 and 1988 but quickly developed a reputation for violence.

At early rallies Hussain surrounded himself with gunmen and urged supporters to “sell your VCRs and buy kalashnikovs”; violence later erupted between the MQM and ethnic Sindhi rivals and, later, against the army, which deployed troops to Karachi in the early 1990s.

It was during the tumult of this time that Hussain and his right-hand man, Imran Farooq, who has just been killed in London, fled the city, in the wake of a slew of police accusations of involvement in racketeering and killing.

Both men vigorously denied the charges, insisting that they were politically motivated and took refuge in London to set up a base for the MQM in Edgware, a quiet suburb in the north of the city.

Since then, Hussain has run the party from exile with a tight grip. In Pakistan the party is officially led by Farooq Sattar, a mild-mannered former mayor of Karachi, but most decisions of significance are taken by Hussain.

His trademark feature is a pair of coffee-tinted Aviator shades and he speaks in a sometimes maniacal style. But few of his supporters, many of whom are women, can see him: Hussain has pioneered the “telephone rally” in Pakistan, addressing tens of thousands of people crowded into Karachi streets around a loudspeaker linked up to a telephone.

Under Sattar, the party has tried hard to shake its association with violence in recent years. It won control of Karachi city council during Pervez Musharraf’s rule in 2005, and has won praise for the construction of highways, water schemes and other city amenities. Business leaders in particular have praised its management of an often chaotic city.

But the dark reputation has not entirely gone away. In May 2007 armed MQM supporters held the city hostage during a day of political violence, triggered by Musharraf who is himself a mohajir, that saw more than 40 people killed.

Last month, Raza Haider, a senior MQM official, was gunned down as he said his prayers, triggering a ferocious wave of tit-for-tat killings involving the MQM and rivals in ethnic Pashtun parties and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, whose Karachi factions are also armed.

The MQM has also been split by rivalries within the mohajir community that have seen periodic blood-letting, both within the MQM and with a breakaway faction known as MQM-Haqiqi, which was fostered in the 1990s by Pakistan intelligence as a means of breaking Hussain’s stranglehold on power in Karachi.

Now, with the gruesome killing of Farooq, a senior if largely colourless figure, the bloodshed appears to have spread from Pakistan to the streets of north London.

Bhit Shah address: Altaf warns govt against sending ISI chief to US court December 26, 2010 http://tribune.com.pk/story/94735/altaf-asks-supporters-if-mqm-should-quit-coalition/

MQM HATES ISI http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:76sYEwgh0i8J:www.mqm.org/English-News/Feb-2002/letter_kofiannan_260202.htm+MQM+Convenor+Dr+Imran+Farooq%27s+letter+to+UN+Secretary+General+Mr+Kofi+Annan&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk&client=firefox-a

26 February 2002

Mr Kofi Annan
Secretary General
The United Nations
U N Plaza, New York 10017
USA

Dear Secretary-General

RE: ISI IS BEHIND THE MURDER OF DANIEL PEARL

I hope that you are in good health and spirit. I know that you are one of the busiest person in the world and, therefore, I will try and keep this letter short, as much as possible which is about the subject mentioned above.

After the horrific terrorist acts against the United States of America on 11th September 2001, the United Nations, United States of America and the entire sovereign nations, peace loving political leaders including Mr Altaf Hussain, Founder and Leader of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), the third largest political party in Pakistan and the second largest in the province of Sindh, strongly condemned the cowardly acts of terrorism in the United States of America. MQM held the biggest rally on 26th. September 2001 in Karachi (port city of Pakistan) to demonstrate its solidarity that it stands shoulder to shoulder with the international community against all sorts of terrorists’ acts and terrorism throughout the world. MQM also offered its unconditional support to the international community against all sorts of terrorism.

As you would know that one of the journalists of the Wall Street Journal, Mr Daniel Pearl was kidnapped on 23rd January 2002 in Karachi. The kidnappers put certain demands for the release of Mr Daniel Pearl. The present Military Government of Pakistan and its high officials were assuring the entire world that the Authorities and police will recover Mr Daniel Pearl alive within two or three days but failed.

Pakistan’s interior minister on Friday predicted a “major breakthrough” and more arrests within 48 hours in the search for Daniel Pearl. The official rejected a claim from Pearl’s self-confessed kidnapper that the Wall Street Journal reporter is dead.
Los Angeles Times, Breakthrough Expected in Kidnap Case, Pakistan Says, February 16, 2002

No one has explained why Sheikh Omar was held in ISI custody for a week before civilian authorities were informed of his arrest. Two former ISI officers have been questioned about Pearl’s murder.
The Observer, Vicious Web of Intrigue that Trapped Daniel Pearl, February 24, 2002

Mr Daniel Pearl was decapitated ruthlessly. What plans had been made by the ISI in collusion with Ahmed Omar Sheikh while he was in its custody only God knows! The Interior Minister of Pakistan and even President General Pervez Musharraf were not aware of this plan.

Not only in Pakistan but also throughout the world, the educated and politically aware people know that the ISI is above all the institutions and even above the law in Pakistan. ISI is a State within a State. ISI is not answerable to the Presidents, Prime Ministers or anyone else.

‘They are a state within a state… ‘The ISI is the only institution powerful enough to
dare to disobey the President.’
The Guardian, Torture, treachery and spies – cover war in Afghanistan, November 4, 2001

The ISI is responsible for harbouring the terrorists’ not only in Pakistan but also throughout the world under the pretext of “Jihad”. The ISI is not at all happy with the decisions taken by the present Government for eradicating religious fanatics, as they are its own creation.

The ISI and only the ISI is behind this barbaric killing of Mr Daniel Pearl because the ISI wanted to give the message to the USA that by supporting the present Government the USA will not be able to achieve its goals and the United States of America must deal with the ISI and not with anybody else; and if the United States of America would continue to support the present Government then they have to face and see many more barbaric acts.

From early on in the Pearl investigation, ISI involvement was evident.
The Observer, Vicious Web of Intrigue that Trapped Daniel Pearl, February 24, 2002

Dear Secretary-General,

The ISI has become a monster and until and unless the ISI is disbanded or dismantled, my apprehensions are that the ISI will continue to form, fertilise, harbour, train and provide financial support to create more and more religious fanatical groups like Jesh-e-Mohammad and others.

The intelligence agency’s past actions indicate that its interests – or, at a minimum, those of former agency officials – have often dovetailed with the interests of Mr. Pearl’s kidnappers, as reflected in their original demands. New disclosures of links between Mr. Sheikh and two recently dismissed agency officials only intensify suspicions about its role in this case.
The New York Times, Death of Reporter Puts Focus on Pakistan’s Intelligence Unit, February 25, 2002

Dear Secretary-General,

I request you to convey my apprehensions to the International Community including the United States of America and its allies and to use your good office to ask the Government of Pakistan to dismantle the ISI. I would also request you that for the dismantling of the ISI, full support and active involvement of the United Nations, USA and the International Community would be required otherwise the present Government or any other Government in Pakistan would not be able to dismantle the ISI.

I also request you that if the United Nations Organisations and international community seriously and sincerely want to see the entire world free from any source of terrorism, they must take serious and practical steps and actions for completely wiping out the ISI otherwise, it would be too late for the world’s sorrow and tears. The killings of innocent people would be the fate of the world.

Thank you for giving me your precious time.

Yours truly,

Dr Imran Farooq
Convenor