The Pakistan government has requested Britain for assistance in establishing whether India has funded and trained cadre of the Pakistan opposition party, >the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) .
“The British High Commission, Pakistan, has received a formal request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, which will be sent to the relevant U.K. authorities,” a spokesperson from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed to The Hindu .
A recent BBC report quoted a “Pakistani source” as saying that the Indian Intelligence agency RAW had financed the MQM and also trained its cadres at a camp in India’s northeast. India has denied the allegations.
The London-based leader of the MQM, Altaf Hussain, is already being investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
London-based leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain, holds a U.K. passport. Under investigation by the Metropolitan Police for money laundering and possible involvement in the murder of Dr. Imran Farooq, an MQM official, he was arrested last year and released on bail soon after. The investigation here is continuing.
London police may probe new charges
To a question on whether the latest allegations of Indian funding and training would be part of the probe already under way, the spokesperson said it was “a matter for the Metropolitan Police,” that “take[s] all allegations of crime extremely seriously and will take appropriate action where there is evidence a crime has been committed.”
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in a press conference on Thursday said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had asked for a thorough probe into the alleged RAW-MQM link and that he was therefore “formally writing” to the U.K. government.
The Pakistan media reported that the Minister met the British High Commissioner to Pakistan Philip Barton on this issue.
He is reported to have stressed that it is the “responsibility” of Britain to cooperate with Pakistan in this matter.
MQM denies charges
Meanwhile, the London-based coordination committee of the MQM issued a strong denial. Calling itself a “peace-loving political party that believes in the unity and integrity of Pakistan,” it said “some anti-MQM elements ... bent on carrying out a media trial of the MQM by repeating the allegation again and again” were behind the story.
