ISLAMABAD: British authorities have made a fresh demand to access key suspects in Dr Imran Farooq murder case. The suspects are in custody of Pakistani authorities.

Sources privy to the development told Dawn.com on Saturday that request was made at the top level and very few people were in knowledge of it.

“Both sides are keeping it secret given the sensitivity of the issue. Pakistan government has not yet responded to the request,” a senior official revealed.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was tight lipped over the issue. He neither denied nor confirmed whether the government would entertain any such request.

His predecessor, Rehman Malik, had altogether denied the suspects in Dr Imran Farooq murder case were in custody of Pakistani authorities.

Farooq, 50, was on his way home from work when he was attacked in Green Lane on Sept 16, 2010 outside his London home. A post-mortem examination found that he died from multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head.

Recently, the London Metropolitan police paced up the investigations. It conducted several raids, arrested some eight suspects, questioned thousands of people and scanned through thousands of documents.

Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain had earlier termed the ongoing investigation a ‘conspiracy’ against him. In a recent telephonic address to his supporters, he said some national and international forces were attempting to break his determination.

“The PML-N government was dealing with the matter with utmost care to avoid public backlash in Karachi and elsewhere,” a PML-N leader commented requesting not to be named.

In December last year, the Met Police searched the MQM’s International Secretariat located at London’s Edgware Road for a period of two days. However, no arrests were made then.

– Shahzad Raza is a freelance contributor. His twitter handle is @shahz79