One of Pakistan's most wanted fugitives, who is also the leader of a key opposition party, has fled his country and turned up in London after seven years of evading capture by the security forces.

Imran Farooq is wanted in Pakistan on numerous terrorist charges including murder.

Special police are heavily deployed in Karachi

But in a press conference in London on Thursday, Mr Farooq said that he had claimed political asylum in Britain and that the charges against him were politically motivated.

He said that he had been targeted by the security forces because he is the secretary-general of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), which he said is being persecuted by the authorities because of its criticism of the Pakistani Government.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Farooq said that he now intended to campaign against the government from exile in Britain.

On the run

Mr Farooq was reluctant to give details of his spectacular escape from Pakistan after seven years on the run in Karachi.

The MQM is based in Karachi

He said that he had been advised by his lawyers not to divulge this information until his application for asylum had been processed by the UK Home Office.

He said there was a bounty of several thousand dollars on his capture - dead or alive.

He told the press conference at his MQM party headquarters in north London that he was the victim of numerous false accusations made by successive governments in Pakistan, including torture and murder.

He said that he was glad to arrive in London on Wednesday night to escape the danger to his life.

Assassination claims

Mr Farooq said that his appearance in London had finally put an end to claims by the Pakistani Government that he had been assassinated after a feud within his MQM party.

The MQM commands strong support in urban parts of the province of Sindh, where it campaigns primarily on behalf of Urdu speaking migrants to Pakistan who are known as Mohajirs.

He joins the MQM leader, Altaf Hussain, who is also in exile in London and also faces criminal charges in Pakistan.

Mr Farooq has already been hailed by some MQM supporters as an alternative leader to Mr Hussain.