LONDON: A former senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has announced the launch of his own party which will be known as the MQM (Imran Farooq Shaheed).

Naeem Ahmed, who joined the MQM in 1984 and has served in senior positions in the party, including as the Joint Sector Incharge of Nazimabad Gulbahar, would be the convener of the MQM (Imran Farooq Shaheed). Ahmed was made Sector Incharge of North Nazimabad when the army operation was in early 90s. He was made the party’s Belgium organiser after he applied for asylum in the country.

Naeem Ahmed said he that the decision to name the party after the former MQM Convener Dr Imran Farooq, who was killed outside his home on 16 September 2010 in London, was taken at a meeting of the Coordination Committee of the new party.

“People like Azeem Tariq, Dr Imran Farooq worked for the cause of the poor people by sacrificing their lives. They all are our heroes but it was Dr Imran Farooq who openly expressed his displeasure at the way the MQM was being run and how some undesirable elements had hijacked the party in Karachi and London. He made the ultimate sacrifice through his life. We owe him and others and it’s important that we remember their name and thousands of martyrs who have given their lives for a great cause,” he said.

Naeem Ahmed, 50, has announced that he will soon launch website of the party and claims to have support of “several senior former and current MQM leaders and activists”. It’s understood that Ahmed is being supported by a businessman based in the UK who originally hails from Karachi but now lives permanently in Britain and has been active in the MQM in the past.

He said that the Metropolitan Police is right to say that Dr Imran Farooq was in advance talks with his colleagues to launch his independent party. “Dr Imran Farooq had support of hundreds of die-hard activists in Britain and Karachi and it was clear to all that the doors of the MQM had been shut on him due to his ideology. He was killed because he was soon going to launch his party. We had told him that our support was with him all the way. He was contacting all those who had made sacrifices for the party but had been sidelined by a select group. Imran Farooq was a genuine leader who wanted the MQM to be party of the poor people and was against criminal elements.”

Naeem Ahmed claims to have the support of dozens of “estranged” MQM activists. He says that initially he will only head the new party but will introduce other activists and office-bearers. “I have received tremendous amount of support from the workers who are aware about my plans and who want the killers of Dr Imran Farooq Shaheed to be brought to justice. We want the MQM (Altaf) to launch a movement to press on the British government to arrest Dr Imran Farooq’s killers and we will support them.”

Naeem Ahmed left Pakistan in 1996 and claimed asylum in Belgium on political basis.

In a letter dated July 1996, the MQM requested to the Commissioner General of Refugees in Belgium that Naeem Ahmed, if returned to Pakistan, is “most likely” will be arrested arbitrarily, tortured or even extra-judicially killed. The MQM appealed for his asylum on humanitarian ground.

The letter added: “Mr. Naeem Ahmed and his family members have suffered enormous physical and mental distress since the commencement of the Operation Clean Up on 19 June 1992. As his family also supported the M Q M .Their lives ware threatened by the personnel of law enforcement agencies and their sponsored terrorist Haqiqi Group.

His house was raided several times. Eventually his family had to abandon their house and went into hiding to save their lives”.Naeem Ahmed was recently featured in the BBC Newsnight documentary on the MQM and the three cases the MQM leadership is facing in London.

Naeem Ahmed told the BBC about his former party: “They are not a peaceful party, they are a militant group, and they are like a bunch of mafias... They are an ideal party for violence.” Describing how he would question neighbourhood youth who would commit acts of violence in the name of MQM, Ahmed said “They directly said, ‘we got our order from London.’”


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