Pakistan asks UK over claims India funded MQM party
- 6 hours ago
- Asia
Pakistan says it will pursue more information from the British government over claims that the MQM party was funded by Indian's government.
MQM officials told UK investigators they had received money from the Indian government, the BBC has learned.
A Pakistani official also told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants over the past 10 years.
Indian authorities say the claims made to the BBC are "completely baseless". The MQM also denies them.
Party spokesman Saif Muhammad Ali told BBC Urdu that the MQM had never received any funding or training from India. He said authorities in Pakistan were running a campaign against the party.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pakistan's interior minister, said on Thursday he would write to the British government on Friday.
He said they had a duty to "extend as much help as possible" to Pakistan on the investigation.
With 24 members in the National Assembly, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) has long been a dominant force in the politics of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.
British authorities investigating the MQM for alleged money laundering held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials.
They told investigators the party was receiving Indian funding, the BBC was told. UK authorities also found a list of weapons in an MQM property.
A Pakistani official told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants in explosives, weapons and sabotage over the past 10 years in camps in north and north-east India.
Before 2005-2006, the training was given to a small number of mid-ranking members of the MQM, the official said.
More recently, greater numbers of more junior party members have been trained, the BBC was told.
The claims follow the statement of a senior Karachi police officer in April that two arrested MQM militants said they had been trained in India.
Asked about the claims of Indian funding and training of the MQM, the Indian High Commission in London said: "Shortcomings of governance cannot be rationalised by blaming neighbours."
The UK authorities started investigating the MQM in 2010 when a senior party leader, Imran Farooq, was stabbed to death outside his home in north London.
In the course of those inquiries, the police found around £500,000 ($787,350) in the MQM's London offices and in the home of Mr Hussain.
That prompted a second investigation into possible money laundering.
Who is Altaf Hussain?
- Born in Karachi in 1953 to a middle-class family; studied pharmacy at university.
- Formed MQM party in 1984 to represent Mohajirs - descendants of Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from India to Pakistan.
- Requested political asylum in UK in 1992, later gained British citizenship; continues to run MQM from north London.
British investigators then found a list itemising weapons, including mortars, grenades and bomb-making equipment in an MQM property, according to Pakistani media reports that the BBC believes to be credible.
The list included prices for the weapons. Asked about the list, the MQM made no response.
The MQM insists it is a peaceful, secular party representing the interests of the middle classes in Pakistan.
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