JIT formed to interrogate suspect in Imran Farooq murder case

KARACHI: A joint investigation team (JIT) has been formed to interrogate the alleged facilitator Muazzam Ali Khan in the murder case of former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq.

The JIT will be headed by DIG South Dr Jameel Ahmed and include officials from Rangers and other law enforcement agencies.

On Tuesday, Muazzam Ali Khan was presented in an anti-terrorism court and remanded into Rangers custody for 90 days.

Muazzam, who was arrested from Karachi's Azizabad area on Sunday, was brought to the ATC by paramilitary Rangers personnel under strict security.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had revealed the previous day that the main suspect wanted in connection with murder of the MQM leader was arrested in Karachi on Sunday.

Although the interior minister did not name the suspect, sources confirmed the individual’s identity to be Muazzam Ali Khan, who was a facilitator in Dr. Farooq’s murder and had arranged visas for the two men accused of carrying out the murder.

“He (main suspect) was responsible for arranging visas, tickets and stay in Britain of the two suspected killers of Dr Imran Farooq,” said Nisar.

Dr Farooq, a founding member of the MQM, was murdered in 2010 outside his house in London with multiple knife stabs and a blow to his head.

British police had made two arrests in connection with the killing but both suspects were later freed on bail. They believe that Dr Farooq was under surveillance by the suspects in the days and weeks before his murder.

Dr Imran Farooq was twice elected an MP in Pakistan, but went into hiding in 1992 when the government ordered a military crackdown against party activists in Karachi. He later claimed asylum in Britain in 1999.