MQM demands to know how an under-trial prisoner’s video was leaked

KARACHI: A video confession by under-trial Muttahida Qaumi Movement worker Khalid Shamim aired on Geo News has been declared unlawful by the party leadership.

In a press conference at the Khursheed Memorial Hall on Thursday, MQM leader Farooq Sattar demanded to know how a video confession from an under trial prisoner had been shot and then aired on mainstream media. “MQM is being put through a media trial.”

“Where was the jail administration when the video was shot?” he asked.

Sattar appealed to the Supreme Court to take a suo moto notice of the incident. He added that the army chief and government should look into the incident.

Khalid Shamim, an MQM worker who is being investigated for his links to the Imran Farooq murder case said in a video confession aired on the show ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada kay Saath’ on Wednesday that the MQM chief considered Kamal his competition. “He felt threatened by Mustafa Kamal,” said Shamim.

Shamim, who appeared in good health but with slightly slurred speech, said that Altaf Hussain had also threatened Kamal.

He alleged that the MQM chief was involved in the Imran Farooq murder case. “When Imran Farooq’s body was brought back to Pakistan, he called Kamal and said, “the job has been done well”,” he said.

Shamim advised members of Rabita Committee to remain bipartisan till the Imran Farooq murder case is solved.

As an after-warning he added, “I am at war with Altaf Hussain and Muhammad Anwar.”

This is not the first time a mysterious video of an under custody worker has appeared in the media. Earlier, death-row convict Saulat Mirza who claimed affiliation with the MQM appeared on media hours before his hanging was due.

Mirza, in his video confession, on March 19, 2015, said the order to kill the MD KESC had been passed on to him by Babar Ghauri, the then MNA of MQM. Mirza said the MQM chief Altaf Hussain used to carry his messages through Babar Ghauri.

Mirza said after executing the murder when he was arrested, the MQM disowned him and threw him away like a used tissue paper.