Pakistan's opposition party MQM rejects BBC report of getting funds, training from India

Pakistan's opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Thursday rejected a news report that claimed India has been helping the party with funds and training to create unrest in the port city of Karachi.

In a report titled 'Pakistan's MQM received Indian funding', BBC said that it was informed by credible Pakistani officials that two senior leaders of MQM told British police in recorded interviews that India provided training and funds.

MQM spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif, however, rejected the report and said it had nothing new in it.

"Such charges were levelled in media against the MQM in the past and later on those who levelled the charges took back them back," he said.

He said none of MQM leaders told British police that the party received funds from India and the British channel should produce the proof in support of its allegations.

He said MQM was examining the report and would challenge it in the court if it was necessary.

According to the BBC report, UK authorities investigating the MQM for alleged money laundering were told by a Pakistani source about the alleged Indian connections of the party.

The Pakistani official said India has trained hundreds of MQM activists over the last 10 years in explosives, weapons and sabotage in camps in north and north-east India.

British authorities held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials who told them the party was receiving Indian funding, the BBC was told.

According to the report, before 2005-2006 the training was given to a small number of mid-ranking members of the MQM, the official said. More recently greater numbers of more junior party members have been trained.

The party enjoys huge support in Pakistan's Mohajir community - the Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from India during the 1947 partition and are mostly based in Karachi.

The party is alleged to have used violence for political ends but always denies the charge. Its leader Altaf Hussain fled to UK in 1992 after military operation was launched against the party and was given British citizenship in 2002.

With 24 members in the National Assembly, the MQM is the fourth largest party in the parliament.