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.
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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.
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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.
