British police investigating the killing of a Pakistani politician in London have arrested a 52-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.Imran Farooq, a founding member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), was stabbed and beaten to death outside his home in September 2010.On Monday, the Metropolitan Police announced that counter-terrorism detectives had arrested a man at Heathrow Airport as he returned from Canada.
Last week police searched two houses in connection with the investigation.
The murder has raised fears that the brutal politics of Karachi, where the MQM is the dominant party, may have reached London, home to several of its senior leaders.
Dr Farooq, who was 50 when he died, had lived in the city since the 1990s after fleeing Pakistan during a deadly military operation.
After his death, party members said he had fallen out with the leadership but had been planning to relaunch his political career.
Police have appealed for more information and are offering a £20,000 reward for information that helps lead to a prosecution.
In a statement they said the attack "would have required careful planning and would have required help from other people, some of whom may have provided assistance or information unwittingly".
The MQM is led by Altaf Hussain, a reclusive figure who refuses interview requests but conducts political rallies by telephone from his offices in Edgware. Thousands of people gather at loudspeakers 5000 miles away in Karachi to hear him speak.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police were inundated with phone calls from Pakistan accusing Mr Hussain of inciting violence and threatening protesters demonstrating at what they believed were rigged elections.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10139242/Man-arrested-at-Heathrow-over-Pakistani-politicians-murder.html
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