Altaf Hussain (Urdu: الطاف حسین‎; pronounced [əlt̪aːf ɦʊseːn]; born 17 September 1953 in Karachi) is a Pakistani politician living in exile as a naturalised citizen in the United Kingdom.[1] He is the leader and founder of the Karachi-based political party, Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), a party aimed at defending the interests of the muhajir community and the Urdu-speaking descendants of Muslims who moved from India to Pakistan after their independence from Britain in 1947.

Hussain belongs to a muhajir family that moved from Agra, Uttar Pradesh in India to settle in Pakistan following the [Pakistan Movement|independence]] in 1947. He joined student politics by forming the All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organization (APMSO) in 1978 and later stepped into mainstream politics by founding the MQM in 1984, which is now the fourth largest political party in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Hussain's party has had political influence in Pakistan since the 1990s by being a part of several governing coalitions.[2][3][4][5] The party's political strongholds are the urban cities of Karachi and Hyderabad in Pakistan. As of 2014, Hussain lives in Edgware in north-west London where he applied for and was granted political asylum in 1992.

Hussain's political figure has seldom appeared "controversial" to critics[6] who claim that his party showed a readiness to use violence to fight for power. Several allegations of criminal activities have been piled against the MQM involving violence perpetrated by its armed wings, drug trafficking, extortion and land theft.[7] BBC News has called Hussain "one of Pakistan's longest-serving and most powerful and divisive politicians".[8] On 20 May 2013, former cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan accused Hussain of being directly involved in the murder of his party leader Zahra Shahid Hussain[6] and Hussain also faces allegations of murder of his own party leader Imran Farooq, a claim under investigation by the London Metropolitan Police.

Whilst under investigation by the London Metropolitan police, Hussain was also charged with money laundering and hate speech, which led to his arrest on 3 July 2013 where the police raided his house and seized approximately £1 million under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.[9][10][11][12] Hussain was interrogated on 4 July 2013 for seven hours in connection with the aforementioned money laundering case[13] More recently, on 3 June 2014, Hussain was again arrested by the police on charges of money laundering. He was later released on bail on 6 June 2014, after he had been questioned thoroughly.[14]