Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London متحدہ قومی موومنٹ - لندن | |
|---|---|
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| Leader | Altaf Hussain |
| Spokesperson | Aftab Baqai[1] |
| Convener | Mustafa Azizabadi[1] |
| Founder | Altaf Hussain |
| Founded | 18 March 1984 (1984-03-18) |
| Preceded by | Muhajir Qaumi Movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organization |
| Headquarters | Edgware,London,United Kingdom (current) Nine Zero,Karachi,Sindh,Pakistan (former/demolished in 2016) |
| Student wing | All Pakistan Muttahidda Students Organization (APMSO) |
| Ideology | Liberalism[2] Social liberalism Muhajir nationalism[3][4] Secularism[5][6] |
| Political position | Centre |
| Colors | Red, green and white |
| Slogan | Empowering People |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| www | |
TheMuttahida Qaumi Movement – London (Urdu:متحدہ قومی موومنٹ - لندن,Muttaḥidah Qọ̄mī Mūwmaṅṫ Laundan), also known asMQM–London (Urdu:ایم کیو ایم - لندن), previously known as theMuhajir Qaumi Movement – Altaf[a] orMQM–Altaf,[b] is aMuhajir nationalist andsecularsocio-liberalist political party in Pakistan that was founded byAltaf Hussain in 1984.[5][6] Currently the party is split between three factions. The MQM–London faction is controlled by Altaf Hussain from London, while the separateMQM–Pakistan is run byKhalid Maqbool Siddiqui based in Pakistan. Itselectoral symbol was a kite. There's also theMQM-Haqiqi faction led byAfaq Ahmed.
It was founded as a student organization,All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization (APMSO), in 1978 by Altaf Hussain. APMSO gave birth to the Muhajir Qaumi Movement in 1984. In 1997, the MQM removed the termMuhajir (which denoted the party's roots among the country'sUrdu-speaking community) from its name and replaced it withMuttahida ("United"). The MQM is generally known as a party that once held strong mobilizing potential in Karachi, having traditionally been the dominant political force in the city.[7][8]
The party has kept its influence over Pakistan's federal government as a key coalition partner since the late 1980s (1988–1990, 1990–1992, 2002–2007, 2008–2013).[9] However, in 2015, MQM parliamentarians resigned from the National Assembly, Senate and Provincial Assembly of Sindh in protest against a crackdown on party supporters.[10]
In August 2016, after Altaf Hussain's controversial 22 August speech, there was a crackdown on the party.Nine Zero, the party's headquarters in Karachi, was raided, sealed, and bulldozed. The party's leaders residing in Pakistan, includingFarooq Sattar, were arrested, and most elected parliamentarians in the MQM disassociated themselves from Altaf Hussain due to his speech. MQM terminated Farooq Sattar's party membership for party rules violations, from where he then formed his own MQM faction.[11]
The first political organization of Muhajirs, calledAll Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization (APMSO), was founded on 11 June 1978 by Altaf Hussain inKarachi University.[12] On March 18, 1984, the APMSO evolved into a proper political organization—Muhajir Qaumi Movement.[13] It was launched to protect the Muhajir community who perceived themselves as the victims of discrimination and repression by thequota system that gave preference to certain ethnicities for admissions in educational institutions and employment in civil services.[14][15]
In its early years, MQM drew enormous crowds, the epitome of which was the rally of August 8, 1986 at Nishtar Park, Karachi.[16] Three years into its existence, MQM won the November 1987 local body elections in Karachi andHyderabad and had several mayors win unopposed.[13][16]Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the highest number of seats in the general election of 1988 and formed a coalition government in the Sindh Province with the help of MQM, which then had a larger mandate in urban Sindh in comparison to PPP whose majority of support came from rural areas of Sindh. A 59-point agreement, called the Karachi Accord, was signed which included statements about protection of the democratic system and political rights, urban development goals, and creating objective criteria for admission to universities and colleges. Within a few months of the agreement, differences surfaced and MQM ministers in the Sindh Cabinet resigned because the agreement was not implemented.[17] Thus, the alliance broke up in October 1989 and MQM joined hands with PPP's opponents.[13] During these times MQM made mark for public benefit initiatives.[18] Khidmat-e-Khalq Committee, a social welfare initiative, was founded in 1978 which in 1998 transformed into Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF).[19]
In theelections of October 1990, MQM emerged as the third strongest party in the country.[20] This time, it made its alliance withIslami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) to establish a provincial government in Sindh whereasIJI formed the federal government.[20] During these times, small factions of MQM separated themselves on the main body of the party,[21] and the largest among these factions was MQM Haqiqi (English:Truthful MQM), which was formed byAfaq Ahmad andAmir Khan.[22] It is was allegedly claimed that MQM Haqiqi was formed by the Sindh/Karachi Government to weaken MQM and was allegedly supported by them.[22] In the following years, successive governments switched between forming alliances with MQM and fighting against it to establish greater control over Karachi.[23]
From 1992 to 1994, the MQM was the target ofOperation Clean-up, The period is regarded as the bloodiest period in Karachi's history, with thousands MQM workers and supporters killed or gone missing. Although more than 31 years to 33 years years have passed since the alleged arrest or disappearance of MQM workers, families of the missing people are still hopeful after registering the cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.[24] The operation left thousands of people dead.[17][25]
The violence gripped urban Sindh politics in the late 1980s after the end of President and Army Chief, GeneralZia-ul-Haq's era, and finally in 1992, the erstwhile government of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif passed a resolution in assembly to launch an operation in Karachi to target 72 'big fishes'. The federal government gave the reasoning behind this operation, known as "Operation Clean-up", as the government's attempt to end terrorism in Karachi and to seize unauthorized arms.[16] Operation Clean-Up, which ostensibly sought to eliminate all terrorists irrespective of their political affiliation, began in June 1992. MQM perceived this operation as an attempt to wipe out the party altogether.[13] Political violence erupted while MQM organized protests and strikes.[13] The resulting lawlessness prevailed in the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan, which led to the country's president dissolving the National Assembly.[citation needed][clarification needed]
During the 1992 violence Altaf Hussain left the country when a warrant was issued for him in connection with a murder.[26] Since then, the political party is run by Mr Hussain from self-imposed exile in London.[23][27]
MQM boycotted the subsequent 1993 general elections claiming organized military intimidation but participated in provincial elections. MQM secured 27 seats in provincial assembly, in comparison to its political rival PPP which won 56 seats. This resulted in PPP forming both the provincial and federal governments.[28] Whereas,MQM Haqiqi failed to gain any seats at federal or provincial level.[13] Political violence gained momentum in 1993 and 1994. During the 1994 violence, heavily political killings were reported between MQM, MQM factions, and Sindhi nationalist groups. By July 1995, more than 1,800 people had been assassinated in Karachi.[22] In 1997, MQM boycotted the general elections and officially changed the previously maintained name "Muhajir Qaumi Movement" to "Muttahida Qaumi Movement" (English:"Immigrant National Movement" to "United National Movement").[16]
In the mid-1990s, MQM created widespread political violence andmilitancy that affected Pakistan's Sindh province, particularly Karachi, the port city that is the country's commercial capital.[22] In the mid-1990s, the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and others accused MQM-London and a rival faction, MQM-Haqiqi, of summary killings, torture, and other abuses. The MQM-A (Altaf) routinely denied involvement in violence.[22]
The party's use of extra-legal activities in conflicts with political opponents have led it to be accused of terrorism.[29][30][31] The party's strongly hierarchical order and personalist leadership style led to some critics labelling the MQM as fascist.[29][32]
DuringOperation Clean-up, MQM was accused of being anti-Pakistan and of planning a separatist break-away state,Jinnahpur. However, later some senior army officers, Brigadier (Retired) Imtiaz and General (Retired) Naseer Akhtar, confessed thatJinnahpur was "nothing but a drama" against MQM for themilitary operation and there was no map of Jinnahpur.[33][34]
On October 19, 1992, Pakistani newspapers carried anISPR press release, conveyingArmy's denial of the knowledge of theJinnahpur plan. TheISPR, the public relations arm of the Pakistan Army stated, "TheArmy had no evidence concerning the so-calledJinnahpur plan, it is clarified that the newspaper story in question is baseless. TheArmy has neither handed over to the government any document or map as reported, nor is it in possession of any evidence concerning the so-calledJinnahpur plan. It is also factually wrong that the matter was discussed at any meeting of the corps commander."[35]Asif Zardari who was thenPresident of Pakistan is said to have "said in a court premises in Karachi that theJinnahpur scandal was created to malign the MQM."[35]
In 2001, MQM boycotted the local body elections but in the 2002 general elections, MQM won 17 out of 272 seats in national assembly.[36]
In the 2008 elections, MQM won 25 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan and 52 seats in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh.[37][38]
In 2008,Foreign Policy released a Global Cities Index which namedMustafa Kamal as Mayor of the Moment, butKamal gave all credit toAltaf Hussain.[39][40]
In 2013, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) filed a Rs.5 billion defamation suit againstPakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairmanImran Khan at theSindh High Court for issuing statements against MQM chief Altaf Hussain.[41]
MQM has also been threatened byPakistani Taliban.[42][43]
In June 2014, theMetropolitan Police raided the London home of its leader, Altaf Hussain, on suspicion of money-laundering.[44]
The party has won majority in the local government election ofKarachi andHyderabad and brought its mayor in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The mayor of Karachi, Wasim Akhtar has been put behind bars without any charge by anti terror court and is waiting Sindh High Court to grant him bail in order to resume his office as the mayor of Karachi.[45] MQM has also brought its chairman and vice chairman in the municipal committee of fourth largest city of SindhMirpurkhas.
MQM and its leader Altaf Hussain decided to boycott elections in 2018 due tomilitary intervention in political affairs.MQM-P which is a separate party now would instead contest for elections using traditional MQM symbol, the kite.[46][47] This would be the second boycott of general elections after 1993 and third boycott of all elections including local bodies election in 2001.[48] The average turnout of Karachi constituencies was 40.4% in 2018 elections comparing to 55% in 2013.[49]
The party is led by Altaf Hussain under whose supervision, members of the Rabita Committee (also known as Central Coordination Committee) formulate the party's political program. It consists of 24 members from Pakistan and 10 from London, United Kingdom.[50] The party's Karachi-based organizational operations are held under its Karachi Tanzeemi Committee.
On 20 November 2011, Muttahida Qaumi Movement announced the formation of Central Executive Committee with its members drawn fromAzad Jammu & Kashmir,Gilgit-Baltistan,Punjab,Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa,Balochistan andSindh. Addressing a Press Conference, Farooq Sattar, a senior MQM official, told that the purpose of Central Executive Committee is to assist MQM Coordination Committee and the party in organizational matters, policy-making and preparation of manifesto.[51]
MQM has several chapters across the world in the United States, Canada, South Africa, several European countries, and Japan.[52] Currently, the heads of MQM North America are former Federal Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Ibad Rehman.[citation needed]
MQM's Party leadership faced widespread arrests after Altaf Hussain's controversial speech and later attack onARY channel which faced much criticism from the media and government where he had said: 'Pakistan Murdabad' (Death to Pakistan) and later ordered attack on anARY channel office which faced much criticism from the media and government. In this speech, he also incited the party workers to attack Pakistani media houses, which resulted in street rioting and one death in Karachi. On the orders ofChief of Army StaffGeneral Raheel Sharif,[53] paramilitary forces immediately sealed MQM offices includingNine Zero. MQM's deputy governor Shahid Pasha, parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar, Sindh assembly opposition leader Izhar-ul-Hasan and Rabita Committee members Qamar Mansur, and Member National Assembly and ex Hyderabad Mayor Kanwar Naveed Jameel were arrested.[54] Farooq Sattar who was released shortly, later disassociated himself from MQM founder and leader Altaf Hussain saying his statements were unacceptable and later presented and facilitated resolutions in Federal and provincial assemblies against his controversial speech, Farooq also claimed to strip MQM chief from constitution and powers.[55][56][57] The crackdown against MQM took a rapid turn when over hundred MQM Unit and Sector offices have been demolished and many MQM workers rounded up.
On August 21, 2016, according toElection Commission of Pakistan, Nadeem Nusrat and not Farooq Sattar, was the leader of MQM.[58] According to Nadeem Nusrat, the "Minus Altaf formula" was not acceptable.[59][60]
In 2016,MQM-Pakistan's leadership in theSindh Assembly declared that it wantedMQM-London's leader Altaf Hussain tried for high treason[61] and also removedNadeem Nusrat, the second-in-command to head of all the affairs of the MQM in London along with Wasay Jaleel, Mustafa Azizabadi etc.[citation needed]
On 22 September 2016, MQM convenorNadeem Nusrat termed the moves ofFarooq Sattar against party rules and illegal and emphasized he is an elected governor and dissolved entire party infrastructure including Rabita Committee and ordered mass resignation of MQM parliamentarians from assemblies and to contest new elections on their own.[62]
In 2017, it was reported that Nusrat has parted ways with MQM London which was later confirmed in May 2018 by MQM's London based leadership.[63][64]
In a media conference the spokesman for theUnited States State Department,John Kirby, stated that US was aware of the arrests of the MQM leaders and was closely monitoring the events.[65]
Although media refers to Muttahida Qaumi Movement as MQM-London, MQM has instructed media to use the original name Muttahida Qaumi Movement only[66] whereas Farooq Sattar led faction has adopted the name MQM-Pakistan.[67]
In 2015 a private garment factory was lit on fire and the flames ignited chemicals that were stored in the factory.[68] The Baldia Town factory inferno case took a dramatic turn on Friday 7 February 2015 when a report showed that the MQM was behind the deadly fire that claimed the lives of at least 258 factory workers.[69]MQM set fire factory to take extorted money from owners.[70][71][72][73]
In response, on 11 March 2015,Pakistan Rangers carried out a raid at Nine Zero, the headquarters of MQM in Karachi as well as the party’s public secretariat Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall and arrested over 100 MQM activists.[74][75]
A documentary film was prepared on Factory fire namedDiscount workers in 2020.[76]
The Pakka Qila Operation was launched by Sindh Police to target MQM workers in Pakka Qilla Hyderabad. Anywhere from 70–250 besieged people were killed during the operation, which carried on for 275 hours before Pakistan army troops were ordered to move in in order to stop the violence.[77]
Operation Clean-up was started by lateGeneral Asif Nawaz afterJinnahpur conspiracy andMajor Kaleem torture case. It was the single largest operation done against MQM and the years when it occurred are widely regarded as Karachi's bloodiest.[78]
During the tenure of Benazir Bhutto, interior ministerGeneral Naseerullah Babar conducted a second operation against MQM between 1994 and 1996.[78]
Due to serious doubts over credibility of operation due to fake encounters,extrajudicial killings and rise of killings in Karachi,[79] Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by the then President of Pakistan,Farooq Ahmed Laghari primarily charging the issue ofMurtaza Bhutto and the killings ofMQM workers.[80][81]
In the aftermath ofHakeem Saeed's assassination, federal rule was imposed byNawaz Sharif inSindh and an operation was initiated against MQM.[82][dead link]
Due to rise in targeted killing, organised crimes of extortion, kidnapping for ransom and the increased crime rate of the city, the Nawaz Sharif government initiated the Karachi operation in 2013 with the intention of creating peace in the city. Even though the interior ministerChaudhry Nisar claimed that the intentions of the operation were apolitical, there had been claims of systematic crackdowns against MQM.
Due to MQM involvement behind the deadly fire that claimed the lives of at least 258 factory workers[69] in order to take extorted money from owners,[70][71][72][73] in 2015 MQM's Headquarters,Nine Zero, was raided twice by the paramilitary Rangers and many top officials of MQM were taken into custody.On 11 March 2015,Pakistan Rangers carried out a raid at Nine Zero, the headquarters of MQM in Karachi as well as the party’s public secretariat Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall and arrested over 100 MQM activists.[83][84][85] At least 27 suspects were presented before an anti-terrorism court. Rangers claimed that they apprehended nearly half a dozen target killers – including Faisal Mehmood, aka 'Faisal Mota', who was sentenced to death in the murder case ofGeo News journalistWali Khan Babar in 2011 and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, walkie talkies, binoculars and other military gear used byNATO forces inAfghanistan were also seized during the raid.[84][85]
After Altaf Hussain's controversial speech where he had said: 'Pakistan Murdabad' (Death to Pakistan) and later ordered attack on anARY channel office which faced much criticism from the media and government. In this speech, he also incited the party workers to attack Pakistani media houses, which resulted in street rioting and one death in Karachi. On the orders ofChief of Army Staff,General Raheel Sharif, the paramilitarySindh Rangers immediately raided sealed multiple MQM offices includingNine Zero. On August 22, 2016, the Headquarter was sealed and hundreds of MQM offices were bulldozed.[53] This 2016 Rangers raid turned out to be a turning point for MQM party or some people call it a beginning of the MQM's end as a political party.[86]
The 2016 Nine Zero raid was referred to as "the end of the story for the party founder,Altaf Hussain".[87] A section of political analysts believed that the situation had already started worsening for MQM when London'sMetropolitan Police arrested and detained Altaf Hussain, the party founder, in 2014 for an investigation involving money laundering, which dispelled the impression that he was untouchable and safe in Britain, despite the charges ultimatly being dropped due to a lack of evidence.[88][89]
In 2015, a senior policeman, had placed the figure of deaths of MQM workers at 1,000, saying a majority of the deaths wereextrajudicial killings.[90] Three other serving officials confirmed the assessment.[90] In 2015, the HRCP expressed concern over the rise in extrajudicial killings and lack of transparency about the number of MQM activists picked up or later let off.[91]
During Nine Zero raid, MQM worker Waqas Shah was shot by a Ranger's 9mm pistol fire from point blank range. The video evidence released on electronic media confirmed the incident.[92] Farooq Sattar's coordination officer Syed Aftab Ahmed was killed while in the custody of paramilitary forces. Initially the force denied torture and stated that he died of heart attack but it had to accept after social media publicized videos of torture marks on Aftab's body and autopsy report conforming death due to torture.[93][94][95] During the second raid on Nine Zero, “Don’t misbehave with the women” were said to be the 25-year-old Syed Waqas Ali Shah's last words to Rangers personnel, who, according to eye-witnesses accounts were pushing aside women who were protesting outside the MQM headquarters (Nine Zero) against the operation.[96]
As a result of operation, MQM claimed 67 of its workers had been killed by theSindh Rangers while 150 went missing and more than 5,000 were placed behind bars.[97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105]
Targeted action between 1994 and 1996 saw gross human rights violations by the state organizations and byLaw enforcement which included randomly kidnapping, extrajudicial executions, disappearance, torture, fake conspiracies, etc.[106]
The speeches and images of Altaf Hussain have been banned by the decision of formerLahore High Court's Chief of Justice and Anti-Terrorism courts had issued arrest warrants of Altaf Hussain numerous times.
Journalists said that targeted operations are only against MQM.[107]
During the 2015 Nine Zero raid, MQM worker Waqas Shah was shot by a Ranger's 9 mm pistol from point blank range. The video evidence released on electronic media confirmed the incident.[108]
Farooq Sattar's coordination officer Syed Aftab Ahmed was killed while in the custody of the paramilitarySindh Rangers. Initially theRangers denied torture and stated that he died of a heart attack, but had to accept after social media publicized videos of torture marks on Aftab's body and an autopsy report confirming death due to torture.[109][110][111]
As a result of the operation, MQM claimed that 67 of its workers had been killed by theSindh Rangers, while 150 were missing and more than 5,000 were imprisoned.Amnesty International, theUS State Department, and theUnited Nations Human Rights Commission had published multiple documents expressing concerns over alleged human rights violations during the targeted operation against MQM.[112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119]
| General elections | Voting percentile % | Voting turnout | Seating graph | Presiding Convener of the party | Parliamentary position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 5.37% | 1,068,868 | 13 / 207 | Imran Farooq | In alliance with PPP/In Opposition |
| 1990 | 7% | 1,172,525 | 15 / 207 | Altaf Hussain | In alliance with PML-N/In Opposition |
| 1993 | Non-participant | – | 0 / 207 | Altaf Hussain | See:Operation Blue Fox |
| 1997 | 4.0% | 764,207 | 12 / 207 | Farooq Sattar | In alliance with PML-NIn Opposition |
| 2002 | 3.1% | – | 13 / 272 | Farooq Sattar | In alliance with PML-Q |
| 2008 | 7.4% | 2,507,813 | 25 / 272 | Babar Ghauri | In alliance with PPP |
| 2013 | 5.41% | 2,456,153 | 24 / 272 | Faisal Sabzwari | In Opposition |
| 2018 | Non-participant | – | 0 / 272 | Altaf Hussain | See:Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan |
| 2024[c] | — | — | 0 / 266 | Nisar Ahmed Panhwar | — |
MQM took part in local bodies by election from Union Committee 46Hyderabad which was vacated by the death of counselor as independent candidate. MQM supported independent candidate Asif Baig defeated the candidate ofMQM-Pakistan by a healthy margin.[121]
On 12 August 2025, Altaf Hussain, founder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement–London, addressed a global gathering of MQM workers via video link and declared that he was "relieving all party workers of their oath of allegiance to him". He stated:
" For the past 47 years, I have been struggling for the rights of Pakistan’s deprived and oppressed people, especially the Muhajir community. I have worked day and night without a single day off. In this struggle, we have endured the martyrdom of thousands of colleagues, enforced disappearances, displacement, destruction of homes, forced occupation of properties, and countless other sacrifices. My own family has not been spared either. My 28-year-old nephew, Arif Hussain, was hacked to death with an axe. My 70-year-old brother-in-law, Aslam Ibrahmani, was arrested from Karachi, brutally tortured for six months in Adiala jail, and dumped outside in a near-dead state, before he succumbed to his injuries. None of my siblings escaped the ordeal of repeated raids on their homes, forcing them into exile, Despite the martyrdom of thousands of comrades, the anguish of thousands of disappeared colleagues, and the imprisonment of many — including those still in jail — I have concluded that I have failed not only to change Pakistan’s rotten and outdated system, but also to secure the rights of my Muhajir nation. Therefore, from August 10, 2025, I relieve all comrades, including the former coordination committee, convener, deputy convener, and all workers, from the oath of loyalty they took to the movement and to me. They are now free to join any political party they wish, wherever they wish, and wherever they wish. As long as I live, I will continue the movement to achieve rights through social media. Success or failure is in the hands of God. "
Hussain recounted past sacrifices, including the enforced disappearance and killing of his brother and nephew.[122]
Commentators and media outlets widely interpreted the statement as effectively signalling the dissolution of MQM–London as a political organization, owing to the removal of its foundational loyalty structure.[123][124]
The avowedly secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)...
Despite its ethnic-based politics, the MQM claims to be the only significant political force in Pakistan to stand up openly for secular values.
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