QUETTA: Two men said to be linked to the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) convener Dr. Imran Farooq were held near the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman, it was confirmed on Thursday.

The accused— identified as Mohsin Ali and Khalid Shamim by Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman Khalid Wasey— are wanted in the murder case of Dr. Imran Farooq.

Both suspects belong to a political party based in Karachi, Wasey said in a statement on Thursday, without disclosing the name of the political party. The accused were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for interrogation after important revelations, Wasey said.

FC arrested both men when they entered Pakistan from Afghanistan. “Both accused were apprehended at Addah Kahol area of the border,” the spokesman said, giving no further details. Wasey said the federal interior ministry was also informed of the arrests.

An important breakthrough is expected in the Imran Farooq murder case, a security official who declined to be named told Dawn.com.

The source added that both suspects had been based in neighbouring Afghanistan for a long time. FIA and district administration of Killa Abdullah have decided to shift the accused from Chaman to Quetta, for which strict security arrangements have been made.

Khalid Shamim, according to a petition filed by his wife in the Sindh High Court, has been missing since January 6, 2011, and was an accounts officer of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

Shamim, according to a progress report placed on record on the SHC's order, was also involved in another murder case registered at the Model Colony police station.

Take a look: ‘Missing’ KWSB man: SHC disappointed with probe.

A 2014 BBC report refers to the same petition in the Sindh High Court, and mentions Khalid Shamim as another man “believed to have helped the two suspects [Imran Farooq’s alleged murderers] return to Pakistan.”

The other man said to be arrested by FC today—Mohsin Ali— is mentioned in the same report as one of the two suspects who are believed to have travelled from Pakistan to London to assassinate Imran Farooq.

In April this year, when Federal Interior Ministar Nisar Ali Khan announced the arrest of Moazzam Ali Khan from Karachi, also for alleged involvement in Imran Farooq's murder, he said:

"The two other men who were suspected [of being involved in the murder], they were poor people," referring to the two Pakistani nationals —29-year-old Mohsin Ali Syed and 34-year-old Muhammad Kashif Khan Kamran — wanted by British authorities investigating the murder.

Also read: Prime suspect in Imran Farooq murder arrested in Karachi: Nisar.

This combo of handout pictures received from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on May 27, 2014 shows 34-year-old Muhammad Kashif Khan Kamran and Mohsin Ali Syed, both named by British police in connection with the 2010 killing of Imran Farooq in London. — AFP

MQM Rabita Committee said in an official statement Thursday that the party had no association with the two men arrested earlier in the day.

MQM leader Wasay Jalil responded to the arrest of the two men from Chaman saying: "We have been made aware of the claims that two individuals were arrested on the Pakistan-Afghan border in relation to the murder of Dr Imran Farooq."

"It is our understanding that this is not a recent arrest and has happened a considerable time ago," Jalil said.

He said the MQM is hoping for a swift conclusion of the investigation into the death of "our dear colleague Dr Farooq."

Meanwhile, Federal Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan has ordered Frontier Corps to transfer the two men to Islamabad following initial investigations.