The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Wednesday submitted a report in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) regarding summoning Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder Altaf Hussain to court via advertisements in international publications.

During a hearing of the Imran Farooq murder case, FIA Special Prosecutor Khawaja Imtiaz told the court that the agency had contacted an advertising firm on December 22 and received an answer on January 5. He added that the summons will be printed in The New York Times and The Guardian, with the total cost amounting to Rs1.3 million.

The ATC judge, Shahrukh Arjumand, however, questioned why the FIA had only included Hussain's Pakistan address. He ordered the agency to include the address of MQM founder's residence in Britain.

The court was assured that the FIA would release the required funds for the advertisements soon.

The report submitted to the ATC included a no-objection certificate issued by the Interior Ministry and a letter from the advertisement firm.

FIA had issued arrest warrants for Hussain, who is a suspect in the Imran Farooq murder case, in December last year. Also in December, the Interior Ministry had approved a request by FIA for issuing red warrants of three other suspects in the murder — Anwar Hussain, Iftikhar Hussain and Kashif Khan Kamran.

The FIA had said that it would also contact the Interpol headquarter in France to ask for assistance in the ongoing murder investigation.

Hussain and other senior members of the party were named as a suspect in the case by the FIA's counter-terrorism wing in Islamabad in 2015. The case was registered for “conspiracy, assistance, abettment and ultimately assassination/murder of Dr Imran farooq, ex-parliamentarian and senior member of MQM in London on Sept 2010. The case has been registered under sections 302, 34, 109, 120B of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act."

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

A five-and-a-half inch bladed kitchen knife and a house brick used in the attack were recovered at the scene, London police had said in the report.