Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain was hospitalised in London on Sunday night after his “health deteriorated”.
In a post on Sunday night, the party said doctors had conducted a medical examination of the MQM leader and admitted him to the hospital.
Hussain currently lives in London, where he has been in self-imposed exile since 1992. He was later granted British citizenship. From London, Hussain played an active role in politics, regularly broadcasting political speeches to his followers in Karachi.
“Mr Altaf Hussain was taken to the hospital on Sunday evening due to ill health, where after an initial examination, the doctors have admitted him to the hospital,” said the post on X.
The party elaborated that doctors “administered an injection to him, and started an IV drip in view of weakness in his body”.
Doctors will conduct a detailed examination of the party founder on Monday, added the post.
The party founder was also “administered a blood transfusion on Sunday night on the advice of doctors,” a subsequent post on the party’s X handle said on Monday.
In a post on X, London-based senior MQM leader Mustafa Azizabadi said Hussain’s ill health was caused by “severe mental stress and staying engaged in organisational work day and night for 18 to 20 hours”.
Last year, the MQM founder was hospitalised on two occasions within a span of a month.
He was admitted to a hospital in London on July 10 due to “severe illness” and was discharged on July 23 after undergoing multiple tests and blood transfusions.
Hussain was again hospitalised on August 8 and was allowed to leave the next day. Doctors had diagnosed him with severe flu and a chest infection.
The MQM founder had also remained in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Britain, apparently after contracting Covid-19 in February 2021.
Hussain’s political journey
Hussain was born on Sept 17, 1953, in Karachi. He obtained his early education at a public school in Karachi’s Azizabad neighbourhood, a middle-class locality where he spent his early years and his youth.
He later enrolled at the University of Karachi (KU) to study Pharmacy and graduated from the programme in 1979.
His political career began during his student years at KU when he and Azeem Ahmed Tariq founded the All-Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO).
Formed in 1978, APMSO gained a massive following within a short period of time.
Under Hussain’s leadership, MQM swept the 1988 election in Sindh’s urban areas, emerging as the third largest party in the country.
In the early 1990s, the MQM chief went into exile as the government at the time conducted an operation in Karachi.
The MQM under Hussain was accused of using violent tactics to attain and retain political power. On the contrary, Hussain maintained that the state and other political parties have targeted MQM and its workers ever since its formation.
Viewed as the man who controlled Karachi from London, Hussain came under fire in May 2013 for his televised speech across Pakistan, where he allegedly demanded the separation of Karachi from the rest of Pakistan if the public mandate of his party was not acceptable to the ‘establishment’. The party later clarified, saying it was taken out of context.
However, the final undoing of the MQM, as it was known, came after Hussain delivered an incendiary speech in August 2016 in which he not only raised slogans against Pakistan but also called the country “a cancer for the entire world”. Hours after the speech, MQM workers had attacked the ARY News office in Karachi.
Authorities launched a crackdown following the speech, and the MQM’s Karachi headquarters and Hussain’s residence in Azizabad were sealed. Later, Hussain’s own party leaders in Pakistan distanced themselves from him and omitted his name from the party constitution.
In October 2019, Hussain was charged with “encouraging terrorism” by British police over his speech. He was also arrested in the case earlier in 2019 but was released on bail.
After deliberations that spanned three days, a 12-member jury had returned a majority verdict in Rex (crown) versus Altaf Hussain in February 2022, acquitting the MQM founder on two counts of ‘encouraging terrorism’.
The jury found Hussain not guilty on both counts of encouraging terrorism, contrary to section 1(2) of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2006.
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