ATC approves 90-day detention of ‘facilitator’

Karachi
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday remanded Moazzam Ali Khan, a prime suspect and alleged facilitator in the murder of senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq, to the Sindh Rangers’ custody for 90 days.
The investigators informed the court of exercising the powers under Section 11-EEEE read with Section 11 EEEE (3) of the anti-terrorism act (ATA) for arresting and keeping the suspect under custody for three months for interrogation.
The paramilitary force also told the court that it had credible information about the involvement of Khan in target killings and other offences which fell under the ATA, 1997.
A resident of Azizabd, Khan was arrested on Sunday, April 12 from his house. However, the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had on Monday confirmed the arrest of a key suspect wanted in connection with murder of the MQM leader but no names were mentioned; his identity was later disclosed.
Khan was taken under custody for having arranged visas, tickets and accommodation in Britain for the two men accused of carrying out the murder.
The interior minister had also stated the suspect would be presented before a court concerned whereas a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) would also be formed in the next few days.
Dr Farooq, a founding member of the MQM, was murdered in 2010 outside his house in London with multiple knife stabs and a severe blow to his head.
The British police had made two arrests in connection with the murder; however, both the suspects were later freed on bail.
They claimed that Dr Farooq had been under surveillance by the suspects for weeks before his murder.
Dr Farooq had been twice elected an MPA in Pakistan, but went into hiding during the 1992 military crackdown on the MQM activists in Karachi. He later claimed asylum in Britain in 1999.