MQM's Altaf Hussain, Anwar, Iftikhar declared ‘most wanted terrorists’ in FIA’s Red Book

LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities on Thursday declared MQM founder Altaf Hussain one of the most wanted terrorists of the country, listing him for the first time ever in the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Red Book.

The Red Book, compiled by the FIA's Counter-Terrorism Wing (CTW), also included the names of Muhammad Anwar, Iftikhar Hussain, and Kashif Khan Kamran — other MQM leaders who were declared absconders by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan.

The four men, including MQM's Altaf Hussain, were allegedly involved in the murder of the party's former leader Dr Imran Farooq, but never joined the investigation.

"[They all are] involved in murder case of Imran Farooq [and face charges under] 01/15; dated 04.12.2015, u/s 302, 34, 120-B, 109 PPC,7ATA, PS CTW /FIA Islamabad," the official FIA document read.

Earlier this year, in June, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad had awarded life imprisonment to Khalid Shamim, Mohsin Ali Syed, and Moazzam Ali — all members of MQM — and declared Anwar, Hussain, his cousin, and Khan as absconders.

It had also called on the UK government to extradite Anwar, Hussain, and the MQM founder to Pakistan but it's understood that Britain has taken no action on the request so far.

The FIA listed the aforementioned characters for the first time ever while compiling this document, which profiled 1,210 other terrorists, of which a majority — 737 — are wanted by police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Another 161 suspects are wanted by the law enforcement agencies in Balochistan, some 122 in Punjab, more than 100 in Sindh, 30 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 32 suspects in Islamabad.

A spokesperson for the Scotland Yard said they were in touch with the Pakistani authorities and would take action if any new actionable evidence came up.

It’s believed that Kashif Khan Kamran — who helped Mohsin Ali Syed kill Dr Farooq — died years ago in police custody in Karachi. While there has been no official confirmation of his death, his name has now appeared in the FIA's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

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On Thursday, Muhammad Anwar had told Geo News in a conversation that he never had anything to do with Dr Farooq’s killing.

"The UK police has investigated the case fully and found nothing against me and they would have charged me and others of murder if they had any proofs but they didn’t which shows the allegations are false," he said.

Anwar said those who killed Dr Farooq had been convicted on the basis of evidence provided by Scotland Yard, which "investigated the case for ten years".

"The list by the FIA is politically motivated," he added.

Dr Farooq, 50, was living in exile in the UK for more than a decade before his death. He was found dead on September 16, 2010, near his residence in the north London neighbourhood of Edgware, having suffered multiple stab wounds and head injuries.

After convicting Syed, Khan, and Shamim, the Islamabad court had additionally issued an arrest warrant for Altaf Hussain, declaring that he had ordered the killing.

The MQM founder has denied any role in the killing, maintaining that Dr Farooq was "like a brother to him" and that his murder was a conspiracy against him.