London: Shumaila Imran Farooq, a former member of the Sindh Assembly and the widow of slain senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq, has passed away in London after battling a form of cancer and several other health complications.
She had been unwell, with her health deteriorating significantly following the assassination of her husband in 2010 outside their Edgware home, a few minutes from MQM’s international office.
Geo News highlighted her case — and her quest for justice — in the last 15 years as she battled several illnesses and almost lost full control of her life and her situation. Tragically, she was abandoned by both MQMs — London and Pakistan.
Geo News did several exclusive and investigative stories on her: how she was living in extreme poverty, had been abandoned, was lonely, suffering, and unable to move on from her husband’s killing, especially in the absence of any support.
Her death brings renewed attention to a case that has remained unresolved for more than 15 years and highlights the long-term personal toll of political violence and exile. Although three people have been jailed in Pakistan for Dr Farooq’s killing but Shumaila always told Geo News there were more people who have escaped justice.
Shumaila was not only known as the spouse of a prominent political leader. She was herself an elected representative, having served as a Member of the Sindh Assembly from MQM.
Nearly three decades ago, she moved to the United Kingdom, later joined by her husband. Farooq, one of MQM’s founding members and a senior figure in its leadership, had left Pakistan after spending much of the 1990s in hiding during military operations against the party.
Like many political figures of that era, he continued his political engagement from exile. They married on the advice of Altaf Hussain.
On September 16, 2010, Dr Farooq was found critically injured near MQM’s London office. He later died from multiple stab wounds. The killing shocked Pakistan’s political establishment and the Pakistani diaspora, raising serious concerns about political violence extending beyond national borders.
Allegations were made against Hussain and his loyalists for killing Dr Farooq but nothing was established in London against them. Dr Farooq had separated his ways from Hussain when he was killed.
British authorities launched a high-profile investigation, while the case became entangled in political controversy in Pakistan.
For Shumaila, the assassination marked a turning point from which she never fully recovered. The trauma of losing her husband in such violent circumstances had a lasting impact on her physical and mental health.
In the years following the murder, Shumaila Farooq remained in London, pursuing justice through legal channels while caring for her two sons, Alishan and Wajdaan. The process proved long and exhausting. Despite her and her husband’s long-standing association with MQM, she received no assistance from either of the party’s main factions — MQM London or MQM Pakistan.
Her health gradually declined, and she was placed on a liquids-only diet. Geo News also did a report showing she was living in extreme poverty in an expensive district of London.
Whenever she spoke to Geo News, she always expressed her worry for the future of her sons, who have continued to battle trauma. She was so weak in the last few months that it was difficult for her to pull together a sentence.
She would get tired and unable to speak, exhausted, within seconds. Her last wish was to see her sons (in their teens) do well in life, never join politics in Pakistan, and not fall victim to the violence associated with Pakistani politics.
Shumaila will be remembered as a political exile and a widow who endured years of loss and illness while continuing to seek justice.
