Imran Farooq murder case no longer among unsolved cases list

LAHORE: Although he globally-acclaimed London Police Service has often sought public information related to the September 16, 2010 assassination of Dr. Imran Farooq, besides having claimed a few times during these last four-and-a-half years that it has made some major headways in this context, the website of this 159-year old force no longer acknowledges the murder of the key MQM leader as being “unresolved” and is no longer seeking any information about it.
Given the situation that the main accomplice in Imran Farooq’s muder case has reportedly been arrested in Karachi on Monday and the fact that the London Police Service is not looking for any public information pertaining to the fatal stabbing of the late 50-year old MQM stalwart in Green Lane of London’s posh Edgware locality, hopes are certainly kindled that the killers in this case might be brought to justice anytime soon.
Here follows a list of a few of the most widely-publicised unresolved murders in England, for which the London Police Service is seeking information from the general public:
Five-year old girl Susan Cadieux (murder date: Jan 6, 1956), 20-year old female Margaret Sheeler (Dec 28, 1963), 16-yer old girl Jacqueline Dunleavy (Jan 9, 1968), 31-year old female Helga Beer (Aug 6, 1968), 22-year old girl Patricia Bovin (April 24, 1969), 27-year old male Ivan Wheeler (Feb 18, 1977), 17-year old male Sam Lottery (Jan 22, 1996), 25-year old female Lisa Leckie (March 24, 2009), 39-year old male Anthony Manning (May 8, 2009) and 29-year old male Jonathan Zak (May 31, 2012).
Having grown from a staff of 8 constables in 1855 to a staff of almost 800 officers and civilians in 2015, the London Police Service is operating with an annual budget of £66.5million.
It enjoys strength of 1,310 employees, including 750 full-time police officers, 70 special constables and 39 police community support officers only. However, the British force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of Greater London, outside of the City, is the Metropolitan Police Service, which is a separate organisation.
Also known as the Scotland Yard, the 186-year old London Metropolitan Police Service has already proved unsuccessful in probing into the murders of former Pakistani Premier Benazir Bhutto (2007), her brother Murtaza Bhutto (1996) and the puzzling assassination of former Kenyan Foreign Minister, Dr John Robert Ouko (1990) at international level.
In his January 8, 2008 article “A credibility deficit”(appearing in the Indian Express), former Pakistani Ambassador to United States, Hussain Haqqani, had written, “Scotland Yard has had no major successes in resolving the numerous politically significant murder mysteries in Pakistan’s chequered history. When Bhutto brought in Scotland Yard detectives to help with the Murtaza Bhutto’s murder in 1996, it was expected that the impartial investigation would bring the finger-pointing and suspicion to an end.”
Haqqani had concluded by saying: “But Ms Bhutto’s government was dismissed in November 1996 and the day after the dismissal the Scotland Yard team was sent back to London without completing its inquiry or publishing a report. What could have been the purpose of shutting down the Scotland Yard probe except to keep alive allegations aimed at the destruction of the reputation of Asif Ali Zardari and splitting the Bhutto family?”
Operating with an annual budget of £3.6 billion budget, the Scotland Yard had arrested Iftikhar Hussain, a primary suspect in the murder case. The man was handcuffed in June 2013 in response to forensic evidence gathered by the police.
The police had said the detainee was a relative of a top Pakistani politician. Coming to the Scotland Yard, it was employing 48,661 full-time personnel by October 2011. This number had included 31,478 sworn police officers, 13,350 non-police staff, and 3,831 non-sworn police community support officers.
However, the strength of 48,661 full-time personnel excludes the 5,479 Special Constables, who work part-time (a minimum of 16 hours a month) and who have the same powers and uniform as their regular colleagues.
The name “Scotland Yard” derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. During the Nineteenth century, the London Metropolitan police or the Scotland Yard had also failed to probe a few murders.
For example, on October 2, 1888, during construction of the Metropolitan Police’s new headquarters, to be known as Scotland Yard, a worker had found a parcel containing human remains.
It was believed to be one of 11 unsolved murders of women, commonly known as the “Whitechapel murders.”
An account of one of these unsolved killings was even reported by “The Times” in its October 23, 1888 edition and eminent British author Tom Cullen’s 1965 book “Autumn of Terror, London,” which had both shed enough light on the “Whitechapel murders,” suggested a tie to Jack the Ripper’s killings of prostitutes that were occurring simultaneously, though the Metropolitan Police said there was no connection.
“Jack the Ripper” was the name given by the British Press, public and Police to an unidentified serial killer who was active in London’s poor neighbourhoods.
A man by this name was never caught though!
The “Whitechapel murders” were committed around the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London between April 3, 1888 and February 13, 1891. In all of the 11 murder cases, except two, there was abdominal mutilation.
Every one of these murders remained unsolved; no person was ever convicted of any of them. However, the legends surrounding these murders became a combination of genuine historical research and folklore.