New JIT for Imran Farooq case

ISLAMABAD: Even as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) produced the three suspects in the Dr Imran Farooq murder case in the court of a duty magistrate on Sunday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the formation of a new Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate the case.

The suspects — who were charged on the basis of the first JIT report — will be produced before an Anti-Terrorism Court on Monday, where law-enforcers will seek their physical remand.

The first JIT was disbanded after it submitted what Chaudhry Nisar kept referring to as its “unanimous report”. The new JIT will pick up the trail where the first one left off.

Asked if Pakistan intended to seek the extradition of the accused currently in UK custody, he said a request to this effect could be sent if the new JIT felt it was necessary.

On Saturday, the Counter-Terrorism Wing (CTW) of FIA registered a case against MQM chief Altaf Husssain and six others for conspiring, assisting, abetting and ultimately murdering Dr Imran Farooq.

Dr Farooq was a former lawmaker and senior MQM leader who was assassinated in London on Sept 16, 2010.

An FIA official, asking not to be identified, said that after the registration of a case, it was necessary to obtain, within 24 hours, the remand of all suspects in custody.

“On Sunday, three suspects; Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali -- who were already in custody -- were produced in the court of Duty Magistrate Haider Ali and their one-day transit remand was obtained,” he said.

“FIA Duty Officer Khurram Shahzad obtained the transit remand and the suspects will be produced before an Anti- Terrorism Court on Monday because the case is registered under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” he said.

London Metropolitan Police have been investigating the case and Scotland Yard investigators had visited Pakistan to interrogate the suspects.

Moazzam Ali, who allegedly financed the killers, was arrested from Karachi in March this year. However, the other two suspects, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali, were arrested while trying to cross the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman.

FIA Director Inam Ghani told Dawn that he was in the previous Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and the First Information Report (FIR) was registered on the basis of the JIT’s inquiry report.

“However, I have nothing to do with the fresh investigation of the suspects,” he said.

Minister defends FIR

Chaudhry Nisar stressed that the formation of the new JIT was a matter for the courts and the investigating agencies, adding that the government had nothing to do with it. He said the case not be politicised, and contended that there were hundreds of cases where the state of Pakistan became a complainant.

Since this was a high-profile murder case involving the death of a Pakistani in London, a decision had been taken to share information with the UK, he said. He regretted that the previous government’s inaction in this case.

He said that no extradition requests had been received from the UK for the men who were in Pakistan’s custody.

Promising that everything would proceed in accordance with the law, Chaudhry Nisar rejected criticism over the timing of the move, saying that the decision to register the FIR had been made by the investigators.

However, he went on to say that had the FIR been registered before the local government elections in Karachi, the government would have been accused of trying to harm the MQM’s cause. Had it been done after the elections, the accusation would have been that the MQM was being punished for winning the elections.

He said the relevant quarters in the United Kingdom had been informed that the remand of the accused in Pakistan was about to expire. Asked why the UK showed little interest in extraditing the three accused, he said he could not respond on their behalf. But, he maintained that the registration of the FIR did not close the door on cooperation between the two countries. “Interaction and cooperation with Scotland Yard will continue and the case will be taken to its logical conclusion,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2015