ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that Pakistan is ready to fulfil all its international legal obligations with regard to the murder of MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq.

He made the remark during a meeting with British High Commissioner Philip Barton, who had called on him on Friday.

The meeting comes days after investigators at Scotland Yard identified two suspects wanted in connection with the murder. In a statement released earlier, Scotland Yard named Mohsin Ali Syed and Mohammad Kashif Khan Kamran as wanted men.

“The two are believed to be in Pakistan at this time and officers continue to liaise with Pakistani authorities,” the statement said.

Dr Farooq was murdered on September 16, 2010, outside his London home.

In Friday’s meeting, the high commissioner dispelled impressions that the UK government was involved in the investigation, saying that the courts and the Metropolitan Police were conducting the probe independently.

British High Commissioner Philip Barton meets Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar

The high commissioner praised the government’s commitment to establishing lasting peace in the region and said his government was ready to extend all kinds of support to help Pakistan bolster its internal security.

He also highlighted areas such as counter-terrorism and action against human and drug trafficking, where the UK could play an effective role in building the capacity of Pakistan’s law-enforcement agencies by providing specialised training.

Talking about relations between Pakistan and the UK, Chaudhry Nisar said that both countries enjoyed a special bond. He praised the British government for hosting Pakistani immigrants, whose remittances played a vital role in the economic development of the country.

Nisar said that close ties between the two countries were vital to the developing geo-political scenario in the region. Peace in Afghanistan is the key to ensuring peace in the region and Pakistan will continue to work closely with the new Afghan government to establish peace, he added. Separately, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch called on the interior minister to discuss the overall political and security situation in his province.

Both leaders agreed that this was the right time to initiate a peace process with militant groups in Balochistan.

The minister said that the federal government was willing to assist the province in reaching out to estranged groups and appreciated steps taken by the Balochistan government to improve the overall security situation in the province.

He pointed out that there had been no major violent incident in Quetta for the past several months.

Published in Dawn, May 31th, 2014