Daily Times

Hussain, 66, has lived in London for more than two decades and often addressed supporters in Pakistan through a loudspeaker linked to his home telephone.

Notably, in the speech on August 22, 2016, he castigated the media for not giving due coverage to his workers. Police accused him of chanting anti-Pakistani slogans, and security forces moved in to seal his party headquarters.

Moreover, MQM activists clashed with police and ransacked a private TV station in violence which left at least one man dead and seven others injured.

Pakistan later charged him with treason and inciting terrorism. He has lived in London since fleeing a military operation against his party in 1992, and is a British citizen.

The MQM, long accused of using extortion and murder to cement its grip on power, was blamed for years of ethnic violence in Karachi.

The MQM lost its hold on Karachi during 2018’s general election, with the party’s Pakistan faction now allied with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Hussain still publishes periodic messages denigrating the Pakistani establishment on social media, though as his grip on power has diminished his audience has shrunk dramatically from their peak during his charismatic speeches of the 1980s and 1990s.

He was due to appear in a magistrates court in London on Thursday.