Metropolitan Police have spoken to hundreds of MQM activists: Mustafa Kamal

LONDON: Senator Mustafa Kamal, the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) central Coordination Committee Member, said that MQM was fully assisting the Metropolitan Police in the murder investigation of Dr Imran Farooq adding that hundreds of people associated with the MQM have given their statements to the Metropolitan Police.
The former City Nazim Karachi was speaking on Hamid Mir’s Capital Talk programme. The other participants in the programme included Lord Nazir Ahmed, a long time critic of the MQM, and Nauman Javid, an expert of English criminal laws. “We have been assisting the police in their inquiries, willingly, and through every mean possible. We have issued sketches of the wanted suspects on our website. The Police are speaking to us because Dr Imran Farooq was from us, he was our family, it’s natural they will ask us for help to find his killers,” said Kamal, adding that the MQM’s members and leaders visiting London from Pakistan have been in touch with the police too.
When asked by Lord Nazir why the MQM had organised several demonstrations in London about Pakistani related issues but not a single protest to demand the arrest of Dr Farooq’s killers, Kamal said that since the police is investigating the case with dedication and was making progress, there was no need to make demands.
Kamal, however, hit out the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for failing to show in the recently aired Newsnight the “good work” done by the MQM in Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan. The BBC’s flagship Newsnight aired a documentary about the MQM and suggested that the party has been involved in violence in Karachi and also alleged that £400,000 have been sized by the police from two properties slinked with the MQM leadership.
Mustafa Kamal accused the BBC of “acting like a jury”. He refused to reveal the exact amount seized by the police but said that the seized amount is much smaller than the one claimed by the BBC. “It’s our duty to satisfy the police when questioned are asked about the money and its origin, we are not here to satisfy the BBC.”
He said the police had still not sought interviews about the money laundering investigation with anyone from the MQM but the media had created unnecessary hype about it.
His view was supported by Nauman Javid, a law expert, who said that the police need time to assess and analyse the material in its possession to decide whether there is need for next steps of interviews and prosecution. He said there are three active investigations involving the MQM leadership but as far as we know no one is charged yet and in such cases the police moves ahead with caution and takes its time.
Lord Nazir Ahmed said that he wanted the police to catch killers of Dr Imran Farooq but also didn’t want the British soil to be used to “destabilise” Pakistan or for the “incitement of violence”. Lord Ahmed accused the MQM was involved in violence in Karachi and had encroached upon the jobs of other ethnicities but Mustafa Kamal said that this charge had no substance and there was no evidence about it. Nauman Javid, a legal expert, said that incitement of violence and hatred is an offence under British Law and it carries severe penalties. He further said that police will analyse not only what was presented in BBC Newsnight but will carry on their own investigation and will look into his speeches independently.
Lord Nazir said that he had no personal enmity with the MQM and was appreciate of “some of the good work” done by the MQM but said that Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto never used the British soil to “incite violence” in Pakistan. He said the MQM had written about 650 letters to the members of the British parliament against him.
When asked why the MQM not launched a legal action against the BBC if it felt defamed and aggrieved about the contents of the Newsnight programme, Mustafa Kamal said the “legal consultations were continuing” and the party had handed over evidence to its solicitors to see the MQM image was portrayed in an “out of context” way. Kamal was asked whether Altaf Hussain’s remarks clearly warning of physical threats didn’t fall into the “incitement of violence” category, he said that Hussain was a “passionate man” who always spoke from his heart and didn’t use written speeches.
He said that Hussain didn’t threaten anyone as such but intended to suggest that of millions of people, someone could easily resort to violence. He said charges that MQM threatened journalists were baseless and his party didn’t intimidate media.