A prominent leader of Pakistan’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was stabbed to death outside his home in north London on Thursday evening sending shockwaves through Pakistani political circles here.
Dr. Imran Farooq (50), a founding member of the party who had been living in Britain in exile since 1999, was thought to have been a victim of a factional fight within the MQM.
According to the BBC , police were working on the “assumption” that his murder was “politically motivated”.
Scotland Yard said he was found with multiple stab wounds and head injuries.
"He was treated by paramedics at the scene but was pronounced dead" it said in a statement.
No arrests had been made until nearly 24 hours after the murder.
Dr. Farooq, who had been a controversial figure, sought asylum in Britain after fleeing Pakistan claiming political persecution.
Raza Haroon, a senior MQM activist, said Dr. Farooq came to live in Britain because of “threat” to his life in Pakistan.
"The main reason he came to live in London was to seek asylum. The threat was there and he was very much aware of it. Nobody could really have thought that this act of violence could happen in London," he said.
Dr. Farooq, who lived with his wife and two sons, fled Pakistan in 1992 after a government crackdown on MQM. He was wanted by Pakistani authorities on a number of charges including murder but he dismissed them as politically motivated. He was also reported to have been at the centre of an internal struggle for the control of the party.
Security for other Britain-based Pakistani political figured has been tightened after the murder.
