Scotland Yard called in to investigate Pak politician Dr Farooq's assassination

Edinburgh, Sept 18 (ANI): Scotland Yard counter-terrorism police have reportedly been called in to lead the assassination probe into the killing of a Pakistani politician and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founding leader, Dr Imran Farooq, in London, after politicians in Islamabad raised suspicion that his death is a result of a conspiracy.

Mohamad Anwar, a party member in London, said the leadership had received threat warnings.

"Because we did not find any symptoms of robbery, we feel that there may be an element of conspiracy and therefore, hence, we can think that this was an assassination," The Telegraph quoted Anwar, as saying.

Detectives in London have not ruled out the possibility that Dr Farooq was killed in a random mugging.

A political motive, however, could spark political clashes in Karachi or undermine the stability of Pakistan's governing coalition, which includes the MQM, the paper said.

He was killed outside his home in North London, as party members were preparing to mark the birthday of their leader, Altaf Hussain.

Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital was shut down following the assassination of Dr Farooq, who had lived in the UK since claiming asylum in 1999.

He came to prominence in the late 1980s as General Secretary of the newly formed party, MQM, which drew its strength from Urdu-speaking immigrants from India who arrived in Karachi after partition.

In 1992, he was forced into hiding following a military crackdown on his party during a violent struggle for control of Karachi. Along with many of his party leadership he was accused of involvement in the kidnap, murder and torture of political opponents drawn from Pashtu-speakers from northwestern Pakistan. (ANI)