MQM ‘received Indian funding’, claims BBC

LONDON – Officials in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have told the UK authorities they received Indian government funds, the BBC learnt from an authoritative Pakistani source. 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. British authorities held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials who told them the party was receiving Indian funding, the BBC was told. 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. In the course of the inquiries, the UK authorities found a list itemizing weapons, including mortars, grenades and bomb-making equipment, in an MQM property, according to Pakistani media reports that the BBC believes to be credible. The list included prices for the weapons. Asked about the list, the MQM made no response. As the UK police investigations have progressed, the British judiciary has been taking an increasingly tough line on the MQM. Back in 2011 a British judge adjudicating an asylum appeal case found that "the MQM has killed over 200 police officers who have stood up against them in Karachi". Last year another British judge hearing another such case found: "There is overwhelming objective evidence that the MQM for decades had been using violence." 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.