Imran Farooq murder case: Widow, five other British witnesses record statements

LONDON: Shumaila Imran, the widow of slain Mutahidda Qaumi Movement leader Dr Imran Farooq, has told Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad that her husband loved Pakistan and that she wanted justice.

Shumaila Farooq was recording her statement to Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad via video link on Monday. She said that the neighbours told her that the two men attacked her husband on the stairs just outside their London residence – few yards from his first floor Edgware flat. Appearing on via video link, Ms Farooq broke down in tears reliving the tragedy.

Dr Farooq, one of the founding members of the Altaf Hussain-led MQM, was murdered in London on September 16, 2010 as he returned home from Pakistan.

Shumaila Farooq testified to the ATC that she had met two former members of the MQM's student wing who were in London to kill her husband. She confirmed meeting accused Mohsin Ali Syed and Kashif Khan Kamran, who had allegedly approached her husband on the roads introducing themselves as Dr Farooq’s 'fans and followers'. She arrived at the court accompanied by two police officers from Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Squad Unit, who are involved in the investigation of the case for nearly ten years. Special arrangements were made for the hearing, which took place Monday.

A team of Scotland Yard officers were in Islamabad for a week to facilitate the trial taking place in both London and Pakistan after the UK and Pakistan decided to cooperate and the UK sent the entire murder case file to Pakistan for the trial of the murder plotters. Shumaila Imran confirmed in her statement that her husband did not suspect that Mohsin Ali Syed and his accomplice intended to harm him. She has given her full account of the events that led to the killing of her husband, his fallout with the MQM leader Altaf Hussain and several other senior members of the party who were not happy with Dr Imran Farooq.

A police officer who was amongst the first to be at the scene of the murder and the doctor who saw Dr Farooq soon after the fatal attack has also given their witness statements before the prosecutors in Islamabad.

After Shumaila, neighbours of the former MQM leader, who saw suspects Mohsin Ali Syed and Kashif Khan Kamran attack Dr Imran Farooq with bricks and knives, will also be questioned. Witnesses also include two English neighbours who were then children, playing in the garden.

They claim to have witnessed how the MQM's founding leader was killed. The local coroner and police detectives will also provide their statements through video link. Dr Julian Thompson, who had conducted an autopsy of Dr Farooq, told the court that he found injuries on the neck, stomach and face of the MQM leader.

The Federal Investigation Agency had charged Mohsin Ali Syed and Kashif Khan Kamran, members of the MQM student wing, with Dr Farooq’s murder in 2016. In their earlier statements, the two accused had confessed to killing the MQM leader, saying that Dr Farooq was a “potent threat to the leadership of the MQM.” They, however, backtracked from their statements in April 2019, claiming that they had confessed under duress.