ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has submitted a report to an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) regarding summoning of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain via advertisements in international publications.

During a hearing of the Dr Imran Farooq murder case, FIA Special Prosecutor Khawaja Imtiaz told the court that the agency contacted an advertising firm on Dec.22 and received an answer on Jan.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.

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.

He 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.

The FIA had issued arrest warrants for Hussain, who is a suspect in this murder case, in December last year. Also in December, the Interior Ministry had approved a request by the FIA for issuing 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.