Dr. Imran Farooq was one of the founding leaders of the All Pakistan Mohajir Student Organization (APMSO) which was established at Karachi University in 1978 with Altaf Hussain as its undisputed leader. Dr Farooq was Secretary General of the APMSO and remained so until the student wing was converted into Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1986. Judge his importance from the fact that he was the first convener of MQM. A thinker and ideologue, he was respected by both political and militant cadres of the MQM. He remained engaged throughout in educating its core political workers. He was also the parliamentary leader of MQM after being elected to the National Assembly in 1998. After Altaf Hussain's decision to go into self-imposed exile to UK in 1992, he was responsible for running and keeping of the MQM until he went under ground following a military crackdown on MQM in Karachi. He re-surfaced in London in 1999 and since then was working in the MQM London International Secretariat. For the past two years, Dr. Farooq was apparently sidelined in the party, some say over differences with the MQM leadership. But the reasons for obscurity were not made public. A number of high-ranking MQM leaders have been assassinated during party's history of struggle. Former Chairman of the party, Azeem Ahmed Tariq, was gunned down inside his house in 1993 while parliamentarian Khalid Bin Waleed was ambushed in 2003. An important MPA, Raza Haider, was murdered only last month, August 2010. This is the second political murder of a Pakistani politician in exile after Mir Shah Nawaz Bhutto's mysterious death more than two decades ago in France. That was the first time a Pakistani political leader had been murdered outside Pakistan. All sorts of speculations surround the murder of Dr Imran Farooq although it is not yet clear who would be interested in killing a marginalized leader that was no longer active in the party. The conspiracy theories about this being an 'inside' job galore. Some say Dr Imran Farooq was about to join General Pervez Musharraf's party on its launch. Another theory, among other things, says the MQM Haqiqi, a breakaway faction of the MQM, could be behind this murder. It would probably take a while to be clear who killed Dr Farooq or it may well remain a mystery forever. A lot of Pakistani leaders have been assassinated in broad daylight in Pakistan and we have never come to know why? The MQM Chief, Altaf Hussain, looked visibly and absolutely shattered at this murder in his press conference. It is probably the greatest shock of his life. Dr Farooq's brutal murder in London has shown that now even the Pakistani leaders in exile are not safe any more. -ENGR. S.T. HUSSAIN, Lahore, September 18.