A complex of cases

There have been a number of reports in the Pakistan press in recent months that the UK authorities are about to drop the cases against Altaf Hussain. While these reports appear to be wrong the British delays are increasingly counterproductive and illogical.
Under the British system the police can arrest someone during their investigation. The next stage – which can take years – is to forward the evidence they have gathered to the Crown Prosecution Service which decides whether or not there is a strong enough case to lay charges and go to trial.
Having dropped the idea of charging Altaf Hussain with incitement to violence, the British police are now investigating two cases relating to the MQM: one about money laundering and the second in relation to the murder of Imran Farooq. There are also possible tax cases but they are a matter for the revenue authorities not the police.
Altaf Hussain has been arrested but not charged in relation to the money laundering case. The murder enquiry, by contrast, has not involved Mr Hussain directly. His nephew, Iftikhar, was arrested in connection with the enquiry in June 2013 but the police released him from arrest in October. There is, however, nothing to stop the police re arresting him at some time in the future. The Met has recently been criticised in the UK for keeping people on bail for too long and that could have contributed to the police decision to release him.
So where does the murder enquiry stand? The first thing to understand is that the UK police pride themselves on solving murder cases. Last year they have solved 88 percent of all murders in London.
The police say they remain fully committed to convicting those responsible for Imran Farooq’s killing and that officers are actively pursuing lines of enquiry. A 30-year-old arrested in connection with the case in August last year will have to present himself to the police in March. Last year the police said that as many as 20 police officers were working on the case full time. Now they are refusing to give a number – the size of the team fluctuates they say – but insist that: “there has been no downgrading of resource dedicated to the task of solving his murder”. It is striking that this is the case at a time when the UK is facing a multiple jihadist plots.
As for the money-laundering investigation the police say it is complex, involving detailed analysis of a large amount of exhibits and extensive financial enquiries both in the UK and internationally. The three men arrested on money laundering charges – Altaf Hussain and two others – have had their bail extended until April.
They are constrained, however, especially in the murder case by the failure of the Pakistan authorities to cooperate with the UK investigations. The UK police are pressing for the release of two suspects – Mohsin Ali Syed and Mohammed Kashif Khan Kamran – who are currently thought to be in ISI custody. Without the two men giving evidence in a UK court it is difficult to see how the UK authorities can pursue the murder case. But despite the request being put directly to the army chief on his recent visit to London Pakistan is showing no sign whatsoever of helping.
Aware that Pakistan’s failure to hand over the two suspects is the main obstacle to progress in the case, many of the UK’s moves over the last four years have been designed above all else to convince Pakistan that the UK is serious about the investigations and that British diplomatic officials are no longer playing politics with MQM. But those efforts have failed.
But that’s not to say that the cases – especially the money laundering cannot be progressed. Given the acute political sensitivities in Karachi, the British police would not have arrested Altaf Hussain for money laundering unless they were sure they could convince the Crown Prosecution Service that there was enough evidence for charges and a trial.
Even if the police would prefer to go to trial on the murder enquiry rather than the money laundering one, their tactics risk sending mixed messages. Many Pakistanis believe the slow pace of the cases means the British Foreign Office and the M16 intelligence organisation are blocking the investigation to protect the MQM. Certainly both organisations have a history of close relations with the MQM. Both have used the party as a way of exerting British influence, not only in Karachi, but in Pakistan more generally.
While some British officials in the past did their best to slow the police investigation down that is ever less likely to happen. Slowly but surely the British foreign office has come to think there will be a trial and a conviction even if only on money laundering charges. Furthermore there is a growing perception in the Foreign Office that the MQM is beginning to disintegrate. As a result the British state is doing much less business with the MQM than it used to.
The delay in laying charges now has nothing to do with the British foreign policy makers protecting the MQM. It’s all to do with the effort to prioritise the murder case over the money laundering one. But the British authorities perhaps put too much faith in the idea that the Pakistan government would respond to the billions of aid the UK has provided by getting some reciprocal cooperation in the Imran Farooq case. Islamabad sees no need to hand over the two suspects and there is no reason to believe it will do so. It cannot be long now before the money-laundering charges will be the only option left.
The writer is a freelance British journalist, one of the hosts of BBC’s Newshour and the author of the new political thriller, Target Britain.
Email: bennettjones@hotmail.com
Twitter: @OwenBennettJone