Altaf’s confidant admits to taking money from India

LONDON: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s former head of diplomatic wing and Coordination Committee member Muhammad Anwar has alleged that the MQM has been receiving funds from the Indian government and he was asked by the party leadership to coordinate with the Indian contacts to receive the funding.

In an exclusive interview with The News at his home in Edgware, the MQM stalwart denied having anything to do with the murder of Dr Imran Farooq. He claimed that it was Nadeem Nusrat who introduced him to an Indian diplomat in early '90s. Nusrat, MQM’s former Coordination Committee member, now lives in Washington and runs his own organisation. Speculations had always existed that the MQM was on the regular payroll of the India’s intelligence agency RAW but this is for the first time that a former senior office-bearer like Anwar has officially confirmed the MQM of being involved with India’s spy agency over a long period of time.

Anwar revealed: “It was sometime in the early '90s when Nadeem Nusrat came to me and told me that he would like me to meet an Indian diplomat. He asked me to meet the Indian diplomat alone but I refused and told him that he should accompany too. It was at 7:00pm and it was raining heavily that day. Nadeem Nusrat, on my insistence, went with me to the meeting but stood outside the venue.” Anwar said he later told the Indian diplomat that he will discuss issues with him only in the presence of his senior, Nusrat. The Indian diplomat told

Anwar he had instructions only to speak to him and not to anyone else. “I told him that I will not speak to him on my own. After making a call to someone and after about half an hour’s back and forth arguments, he received permission and only then Nadeem Nusrat joined us. This is how I got connected to RAW contacts.” Anwar said that it was never his decision to meet the Indian diplomats and deal with them. “I confirm that I was obeying orders of the party. I was asked to do what I did and I was connected by the MQM with the Indian contacts. I had no vested interests. We were towing the party line on India.”

Anwar said that his own colleagues in the MQM in Pakistan and the UK created a bad impression about him, projected him as the only bad person, whereas the reality is that each and every person in the leadership position shared responsibilities and all decisions were taken in consultations with each other. He said that the MQM-Pakistan leaders were projecting themselves today as holier-than-thou, but he said that the Karachi-based leadership was responsible for the large-scale killings and destruction in the city. “The so-called civilised leaders that you see on TV these days were the ones who were always eagerly nformed Altaf Hussain about individuals to maim, kill and burn. I am ready to share the details with authorities about their deeds. Over the years, they have blamed me only to launder themselves as clean guys. That’s not the case.”

Last week, Anwar was named as absconder, with Altaf Hussain and Iftikhar Hussain, in the Dr Imran Farooq murder case by Islamabad’s Anti-Terrorism Court. He told this correspondent that the judgment quotes Khalid Shamim as saying that in 2005 he (Anwar) called Dr Imran Farooq from Dublin and spoke to them and in the same conversation, Anwar allegedly instructed him to kill Farooq. “It’s ridiculous to say that I instructed killing Dr Imran Farooq on his face during a conversation the slain leader was listening to, standing with me. Is this believable? This is totally baseless, without any substance.” Anwar claimed never meeting Shamim in his entire life and never had any relationship with him of any kind. "How is it possible that I planned the assassination of my senior leader in his presence, with a stranger on the phone thousands of miles away," he questioned.

Anwar also blamed Ishratul Ebad, the former governor of Sindh, for spinning theories about his role in the killing. Anwar shared that Ebad told him that Britain’s spy agency, MI6, has shared with him two pictures showing Anwar with the two assassins of Dr Imran Farooq. Anwar said: “I asked Ebad many times to send me the pictures but he never did and then I had to take a tough stance. Altaf Hussain asked Tariq Mir to visit Karachi who meet the governor and bring the two pictures. Tariq Mir came back with two tiny photo-shopped pictures. I laughed at seeing those pictures.”

Anwar said he had fully cooperated with Scotland Yard in their investigation and the police had never shared with him anything suggesting his link of any kind in the killing. “If there was anything the police would have presented before me as incriminating evidence but I have seen nothing and the police have mentioned nothing either.” He said that the former Sindh governor should also be made part of the investigations and questions should be asked of him as well about who was providing him with the false information. He also said that the former Sindh governor should be asked to share what information he had regarding the murder. Anwar said that police had raided his house and took all his belongings including laptops of his college-going children but found nothing. "I am saying unequivocally and vociferously that I am not involved,” he claimed.

Anwar said that Altaf had suspended Dr Imran Farooq to embarrass and humiliate him. “I respected him a lot. We had disagreements over policy matters and I always stood by merit in the party.” He said Dr Imran Farooq was consistent in his political beliefs and didn’t like U-turns and policy somersaults made by the party founder.

Anwar said that the MQM has never been against Pakistan. Anwar recalled that Field Marshal Ayub Khan gave his father Tamgha-e-Khidmat in 1967 for his services to the state of Pakistan. In 1971, Anwar said, his father in 1971 did food provision work in North Bengal on Lieut General Niazi’s request because all provisions were severed. He said: “My father was the only person who supplied food without even billing for that. He was arrested as a war collaborator and languished in jail and suffered inhumane torture. My father-in-law Syed Ahmed Ashraf was campaigning for Pakistan in 1937 with Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was Secretary General of All India Muslim League. He is buried in the Islamia College. We are not and were not against Pakistan. We were not Indian agents. Whatever our relations with India were, we were towing MQM’s party line.”

Anwar said the late Asma Jahangir called MQM’s office on 12 May, 2007 and told the London office that the MQM people were involved in killing innocent people and pleaded to the party leadership to stop the carnage in Karachi during Pervez Musharraf’s government. “I, Anees Advocate, Imran Farooq and Tariq Mir were opposed to the violence. I told the leadership what would happen to us in international and local opinion but in the end, Karachi leaders prevailed and Altaf didn’t agree with us."

Anwar offered that he would cooperate with the authorities in the UK and Pakistan if needed to establish facts. Anwar has warned that he will be spill more beans about the MQM if anyone tried to malign him.