In a major development, investigators of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) got approval on Thursday to collect more evidence from London in the murder case of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Imran Farooq. An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) granted permission while hearing the case and instructed the agency to gather evidence in the case by March 20. “Evidence regarding the main accused Muazzam Ali, Mohsin Ali and Kahlid Shamim will be presented before the court soon,” said FIA officials during the hearing. The agency maintained that to obtain specific evidence, officials were also in contact with the British government. Dr Farooq, a founding member of the MQM, was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in London in September 2010. On December 5, 2015, the FIA registered a case against the MQM chief and other party leaders for their alleged involvement in the 2010 murder of Dr Imran Farooq. Dr Farooq, inactive in politics for about two years then, had claimed asylum in Britain after more than seven years on the run from police in Pakistan who had accused him of involvement in murder and other serious crimes. He had denied the charges. Published in Daily Times, February 15th 2019.