Imran Farooq (; 14 June 1960 – 16 September 2010) was a British-Pakistani politician who was best known for his association with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a political party in Pakistan, of which he was a very senior member. He was also a founding member of the All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization. Farooq held several positions in MQM and the Pakistani government. He lived in London in self-imposed exile from 1999 until he was murdered on 16 September 2010.
Biography
Imran Farooq was born in Karachi, Pakistan. His father, Farooq Ahmed, was born in Delhi, British India (now India) before he migrated to Pakistan after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and was elected as a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. Farooq's father was Muhajir. Farooq was a physician by education. He graduated from Sindh Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan with an MBBS degree in 1985. In 2004, Farooq married a former member of the Sindh Assembly, Shumaila Nazar. He fathered two children. Farooq was related to Tahir Qureshi (former MPA). Farooq's great grandfather was also once the governor of Delhi, India.
In 2019, several news agencies reported that Shumaila Farooq was living in extreme poverty with her two sons, relying on handouts from the British government. In 2020, on a Geo News talk show, she revealed that she was diagnosed with Stage 2 Oral Cancer in 2019 and that none of the leaders of MQM reached out for help.
Although he was not a writer by profession, Farooq authored several works during his lifetime. His best known contribution is The Guiding Principles of MQM.
Mohajir Quami Movement
In 1978, Farooq helped established the All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization. When in 1984, it gave birth to the Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM), Farooq served as its first Secretary General and Convener. In 1988, he was elected to the Pakistan National Assembly and became the Parliamentary Leader of the MQM.
By 1992, the MQM had become a political force in Karachi. In an effort to curtail its power, the Pakistani government launched Operation Clean-up and sent the military into Karachi to crack down on the movement, causing the leadership, including Farooq, to go into hiding. After being in hiding for nearly seven years, Farooq escaped from Pakistan in 1999, sought political asylum in the United Kingdom and later gained British citizenship. From London, Farooq continued to lead the MQM with Altaf Hussain and other senior members of the party from exile. When Farooq left Pakistan, he had a bounty on his head. Farooq was charged with terrorism, which he denied upon arrival in London. The charges against Farooq were challenged by his mother in 1992 in the Sindh High Court (SHC). The SHC's verdict declared the bounty to be illegal and unconstitutional; the consequent appeal by the provincial Government of Sindh was dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Farooq maintained close relations with Altaf Hussain, who called Farooq his "staunch, loyal, and senior companion." In 2004, when Farooq got married in London, Hussain attended the festivities.
Murder, investigation and conviction
Farooq was found murdered near his home in North London on 16 September 2010. The murder took place at 5:30 p.m. as Farooq was returning home after finishing work at a local pharmacy.
The Metropolitan Police said they were called on the complaint of a "serious assault" in Green Lane, Edgware, where they found Farooq, who had suffered multiple stab wounds and head injuries. Despite the efforts of paramedics, Farooq was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined the cause of death as being head trauma and stab wounds to the neck. The suspect(s) had fled the scene leaving behind a 14 cm (5 in) knife and a house brick used to commit the crime.
An unidentified suspect was arrested in December 2010.
Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Counter Terrorism Command detectives investigating Farooq's murder believe that he was building his independent political profile in the months before he was killed.
In June 2013, British police arrested Iftikhar Hussain, a primary suspect in the murder case. According to sources familiar with the developments, the detainee is a relative of a top Pakistani politician. The arrest was made in response to forensic evidence gathered by the police. The Scotland Yard stated that they had sought the Call Detail Record (CDR) along with text messages from the SIM obtained from Hussain.