LAHORE: A young web-based journalist has been killed in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Faisal Qureshi, 28, used to live alone in his house situated in Bhatti Street of Lahore’s Wifaqi Colony. The deceased was Web Editor of The London Post and was the younger brother of Dr. Shahid Qureshi, a journalist based in London.
According to police officials, the body has multiple stab wounds and one bullet wound. The police have taken custody of the corpse and are investigating the case.
The Pakistani journalist community has shown its concern over the cold-blooded murder and has demanded that the provincial government probe the case with special attention as a political party is being blamed for its alleged involvement in the killing. [See this thread]
It is not the first time that Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is being blamed for a murder. The party has been involved in such cases since the mid 1980s, the period when it started its political activities, representing a certain ethnicity in the Pakistani port city of Karachi.
In August this year, The London Post broke the story that the police caught London-based MQM chief Altaf Hussain at Heathrow Airport, while allegedly escaping to South Africa to avoid the murder investigations of Dr. Imran Farooq; MQM’s Convener who was killed in North London on 16 September,2010. While referring to some other arrests, the newspaper said in its story, “They had crucial information related to Dr Imran Farooq’s murder as well as target killing cells in various countries, including South Africa. They knew too much about the MQM-A illegal and terrorist activities and needed to be eliminated that is why they were called in Karachi. They are lucky to be alive in the custody of Pakistani authorities than killed by their own death squad.” [London Post]
According to sources close to Dr. Shahid Qureshi, he and his brother were receiving death threats from MQM after publishing the story.
The incident has taken place at a time when the party has once again joined the ruling coalition, just two days back, ahead of a Supreme Court decision stating MQM, PPP and some other political parties as patronizing criminal gangs and collecting extortion money. [The News]
Earlier last month, a senior Lahore-based journalist has also receiving threats against his life, allegedly from the same party. Nujm ul Hassan Arif, who works as Daily Ummat’s Bureau Chief in Lahore, received threats after filing stories about the party’s suspicious activities in the city. [Umat]