London arrest of Pakistan’s MQM party leader sparks panic in Karachi

Within minutes of the arrest of Altaf Hussain, panicked shopkeepers and market stall owners in Karachi rushed to close their businesses for fear of violence, residents said.

LONDON/KARACHI // Exiled Pakistani politician Altaf Hussain, leader of the powerful Muttahida Qaumi Movement, was arrested in London on Tuesday, sparking fears of a violent backlash in Pakistan.

A spokesman at the London headquarters of MQM, one of Pakistan’s major political parties, confirmed that Mr Hussain had been arrested.

He said further details would be released later.

Metropolitan police said a 60-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of money-laundering during an early morning raid on a house in northwest London but declined to confirm his identity. Police in Britain do not name suspects until they are charged. Special operations officers were searching the property.

Mr Hussain, one of Pakistan’s most divisive and controversial leaders, is wanted at home in relation to a murder case.

He has lived in self-imposed exile in London since the early 1990s.

Known for his fiery addresses to his supporters in Karachi through a loudspeaker connected to a telephone, he effectively controls the violent port city from London.

His hold on Karachi is so strong that he is capable of shutting down entire neighbourhoods of the city of 18 million.

Supporters praise him as a business-oriented leader of Pakistan’s middle class, but opponents describe him as a tyrant and accuse him of murder and violence.

Within minutes of his arrest, panicked shop-keepers and market stall owners rushed to close their businesses for fear of violence, Karachi residents said.

“We deployed extra security at the British High Commission in the southern part of Karachi as soon we learnt about Altaf Hussain’s arrest in London through media,” deputy inspector general Abdul Khalique Shaikh said.

“We have increased police patrolling and we are making further deployments at sensitive spots in the city,” he added.

Mohammad Moosa, a resident of Karachi, said: “All shops and markets are shut. Even small cigarette shops are closed. Petrol station operators have also closed down, fearing violence.”

The MQM party’s support base is millions of Muslim Urdu-speaking people whose families migrated to Pakistan at the time of the 1947 partition.

* Reuters, with additional reporting from Associated Press