Pak seeks access to details about BBC's India funding report

Pakistan today formally sought help from the British government in investigating a BBC report that alleged India provided funds to a major Karachi-based political party to foment trouble in the country.
Pakistan's Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Law prepared a letter, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dispatched to British authorities, official sources said.
In the letter, Pakistan has formally requested British authorities to give it access to details of the report which mentioned that recorded interviews of two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders were available with the London Police in which they confessed having received money from India.

Pakistan, in the letter, said it was an issue of national security for the country to know the facts of the BBC report.
The BBC report had alleged that MQM, which has a strong base in Karachi, received funds from the Indian government.
Citing an authoritative Pakistani source, the report had said that "British authorities held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials who told them the party was receiving Indian funding."

However, MQM and India have described the report as "completely baseless". MQM termed it a part of media trial to weaken its political base in the country.
The party blames Pakistani paramilitary Rangers of targeting the party, and of carrying out extrajudicial killings and kidnappings of its activists.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif yesterday ordered a probe into the allegations, and Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan met British High Commissioner Philip Barton over the issue.
Later, Khan told media that Barton asked him to formally write for help regarding the report.