Pakistan has not contacted Interpol on Altaf: Lord Nazir

Tells Safi in Geo programme Jirga that Imran Farooq murder accused are still in Pakistan; no proof provided to UK

KARACHI: British Member Parliament Lord Nazir Ahmad has said that Pakistan government’s claim is wrong that it has contacted Interpol about Altaf Hussain and provided any proof against him.

Speaking to Salim Safi in Geo News programme ‘Jirga’, he said that Pakistan government’s claims about Altaf Hussain were contradictory. The government says that Imran Farooq murder case will be run in Pakistan, and it did not hand over the accused to Britain. The interior ministry attempted to implicate RAW in Altaf Hussain money-laundering case. And if there are any proofs in this regard, those should be presented to the British authorities. Britain would not damage its $20 billion trade interests with India by defaming RAW, he added.

Lord Nazir said he held meetings with the police, and they said that they had no proofs against Altaf Hussain, which could be presented in the court. He said that whenever the Pakistani governments face some internal pressures, they start talking of Altaf Hussain and Imran Farooq murder case to divert attention from internal issues. He said an important case against Altaf Hussain could be an incitement to violence, and credible proofs should be presented to the British police in this regard. He said if such solid and credible proofs are presented to the British police, he was ready to take up the case against Altaf Hussain with the Scotland Yard police.

The British MP said that he had arranged Dr Zulfiqar Mirza’s meetings with Scotland, and whatever proofs he presented there were in the capacity of Sindh home minister. Now those proofs should be linked with the two persons who went to Britain as students, and who were charged with murder later on. He said Scotland Yard needed proofs and the presence of those two accused in Imran Farooq murder case. The Scotland Yard would probe whether those persons committed murder on their own or on the orders of someone else. For indictment, it is necessary that these persons are presented in the court there, he added.

About money-laundering of MQM, Lord Nazir said there are some people in that party who say they are business people and their bank accounts may have five or eight lakh pounds. They say they keep their money in Altaf Hussain’s house for protection by Altaf’s guards and dogs. He said Pakistani government has proofs comprising Altaf’s money trail and fingerprints, but it is not giving them to Britain. He said sometimes they come to know about Pakistan government’s conspiracy after passage of some time.

He said he had asked the British chief police officer after Benazir murder case that his force had defamed the Scotland Yard as they failed to probe Liaquat Ali Khan and Benazir Bhutto murder cases, he said they had not been asked to probe the murder case. He said he was asked by the prime minister by telephone that Pakistan government wanted Scotland Yard to prove it through tests that the blood samples sent were of Benazir Bhutto, and not of anyone else.

Lord Nazir said that he believed that if Pakistan would provide proofs against Altaf Hussain, the British government would take legal action against him. He said he had doubts that Altaf Hussain was an asset for Britain. Some people make claims about it. Altaf had connections in sensitive agencies and interior ministry, and he cooperated with NATO and won some concessions in Britain in exchange for that.

Lord Nazir said when Benazir Bhutto was going to Karachi, he was called by the interior ministry and warned not to accompany her to Pakistan as she would come under attack there. He said he asked the officials if the attack would be carried out by Altaf Hussain. He was told that Altaf would not be behind that attack, as the official said they had summoned Altaf Hussain and warned him not to indulge in any such thing.

He said Wajid Shamsul Hassan was witness to it that he then called Benazir Bhutto and told her that she would be attacked in Pakistan, and that she should not go to Pakistan. However, Benazir said that nothing would happen to her. She advised him (Lord Nazir) not to accompany her against the advice of the British authorities, and join her later on in Islamabad.

Lord Nazir says the British authorities claim that Altaf Hussain is not an asset of Britain but a citizen. He said the main reason for inaction against him is non-cooperation on the part of Pakistani authorities.

Relating an incident, Lord Nazir said that in a meeting with Nawaz Sharif, he divulged the names of two team members of premier Nawaz. He immediately summoned his secretary Fawad Hasan Fawad in his office and asked him about what he (Lord Nazir) had told him. He said Nawaz Sharif had given a commitment about good governance, but he did not keep his words. That was why, added Lord Nazir, he went to meet Imran Khan on his container and also gave an interview to Geo News.

He said he had been running a case with a big media group and Imran Khan had promised that he would issue a statement in his favour in this regard. However, he did not issue that statement. He said people did not know about background information of various issues, and they have watched only his programmes with Saleem Safi of Jirga.

The lord said that he also arranged meetings of Maulana Fazlur Rehman with the British authorities. About joining Pakistani politics, he said that was not possible without money and power here, and he even cannot win the election of local council here. He said the British politics suited him, where he was serving the Muslim community there.