Kamran Farooqui tells judicial magistrate Dr Farooq
Sattar and Hammad Siddiqui were present at the meeting
where May 12, 2007, violence was planned
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader MPA Kamran Farooqui told a judicial magistrate on Saturday that the plan to create unrest in Karachi on May 12, 2007 was chalked out at the MQM headquarters Nine-Zero during a meeting attended by Dr Farooq Sattar and Hammad Siddiqui among others.
Farooqui, who was recording his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, said it was decided at that meeting to randomly kill citizens in Karachi and activists were directed to shut down the entire city to stop lawyers from reaching the Karachi airport to receive the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
He said Ejaz Shah, Abid alias Chairman, Farhan Shabbir and other MQM leaders too were present at the meeting.
He told the court that Tahir Plaza, a building near City Courts, was set on fire on April 9, 2008, in which six lawyers were killed, to “teach a lesson” to Advocate Naim Qureshi, now the Karachi Bar Association president, for supporting the deposed chief justice.
He further said the MQM Lyari Sector was granted Rs3.5 million to buying weapons between 2008 and 2009. He also told the court that on the directives of the top MQM leadership, party cadres were allotted plots using the “China cutting” technique.
He said the MQM had killed dozens of political opponents. Farooqui told the judicial magistrate that his party activists had killed Awami National Party and MQM-Haqiqi activists and Lyari gangsters and dumped their bodies packed in gunny bags
The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts has already accepted Farooqui remand. He was produced before an ATC over charges of possessing illegal weapons and explosive material. However, he later admitted to killing many people and involvement in other crimes.
When Farooqui appeared before the ATC, he had told journalists outside the court that he was facing some allegations in connection with the May 12 violence.
The administrative court was informed that a case against the accused had been registered at Nabi Bukhsh police station on the complaint of a Rangers inspector. The Rangers prosecutor told the court the accused had confessed to his involvement in several high-profile murder cases.
The attorney further said on May 12, 2007, the accused had opened fire on rallies staged against the MQM and killed many people. He was assigned the task of killing KBA president Naim Qureshi.
In 2012 he had killed four people and injured several others by carrying out a gun attck on the “Sindh Mohabbat Rally” in Usmanabad.
In 2008, he was among those who had killed two women and four men while burning a a lawyer’s office housed in Tahir Plaza.
He had also killed 13 people and injured 17 others by firing on a rally near Light House. Farooqui also confessed to killing Pakistan People’s Party activist Tariq Lashkari in 2011 in the area of Garden.
The Rangers attorney further said Farooqui had also admitted to killing Usman, Younus, Asif, Arsalan, Shebaz Baloch and others in different areas of the city between 2010 and 2012.
Farooqui was arrested at his temporary residence in North Nazimabad on December 15. He was elected to the provincial assembly seat, PS-111 Ranchore Line, in the 2013 general elections.