MQM chief Altaf Hussain charged under terrorism act in UK - report

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain has been charged under the Terrorism Act in the United Kingdom on Thursday, according to media reports. Hussain has been charged by the Metropolitan Police over the speech relayed from the United Kingdom to his followers in Pakistan in 2016.

Altaf Hussian is the exiled leader of MQM, which is a notable political party of Pakistan. He has often invited trouble due to his anti-state speeches, especially the one in 2016 where he said Pakistan was the "epicentre of terrorism" and "a cancer for entire world".

The MQM has dominated politics in Karachi for three decades because of its support in the densely populated working-class neighbourhoods of Urdu-speaking Muhajirs, descendants of Muslims who migrated from India when Pakistan was created in 1947.

Hussain requested asylum in the 1990s and later gained UK citizenship. But he maintains a firm grip over the MQM and its main power base, the financial capital of Karachi.