A BBC report on Wednesday claimed the officials in Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have told the United Kingdom authorities that they received Indian government funds. According to the report which quotes an unnamed "authoritative Pakistani source", officials in MQM have told UK authorities that they received Indian government funds. UK authorities investigating the MQM for alleged money laundering also found a list of weapons in an MQM property.
A Pakistani official has told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants over the last 10 years. The Indian authorities described the claims as "completely baseless". The MQM said it was not going to comment. With 24 members in the National Assembly, the MQM has long been a dominant force in the politics of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi.
British authorities held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials who told them the party was receiving Indian funding, according to the BBC. Meanwhile a Pakistani official has told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants in explosives, weapons and sabotage over the last 10 years in camps in north and north-east India. Before 2005-2006 the training was given to a small number of mid-ranking members of the MQM, the official said.
More recently greater numbers of more junior party members have been trained. Asked about the claims of Indian funding and training of the MQM, the Indian High Commission in London said: "Shortcomings of governance cannot be rationalised by blaming neighbours." The UK authorities started investigating the MQM in 2010 when a senior party leader, Imran Farooq, was stabbed to death outside his home in north London.
In the course of those inquiries the police found around £500,000 ($787,350) in the MQM's London offices and in the home of MQM leader Altaf Hussain. That prompted a second investigation into possible money laundering. As well as its electoral base, the MQM has formidable street power. When it orders a strike the streets empty and the whole of Karachi grinds to a halt, the BBC report points out.
India has long accused Pakistani officials of involvement in sponsoring militant attacks in India. Delhi, for example, has demanded that Pakistan take firmer action against those suspected of plotting and managing the Mumbai attacks of 2008. The latest developments in the MQM case suggest that Pakistan will now counter such complaints with demands that India stop sponsoring violent forces in Karachi, the BBC report said.
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