Pak MQM chief gets bail; Karachi calm
Thousands of supporters of the exiled leader of Pakistan's MQM party ended a four-day protest yesterday after he was bailed by London police following his arrest on suspicion of money laundering.
Altaf Hussain was arrested at his suburban home in the British capital on Tuesday, prompting street demonstrations in Karachi -- Pakistan's biggest city and his party's power base.
"The 60-year-old man arrested on Tuesday 3 June on suspicion of money laundering has been released on police bail to a date in July pending further enquiries," a police statement said.
Hussain's arrest had sparked major protesters which included the torching of at least a dozen vehicles while the Karachi Stock Exchange plunged three percent on the back of the news. Hussain left Pakistan for Britain in 1992 after a military operation to end ethnic unrest in Karachi, going on to gain British citizenship in 2002.
Hussain founded the MQM in 1984 in response to the marginalisation of Mohajirs -- migrants who fled India amid the violence of the sub-continent's partition.
They are mainly concentrated in the cities of the southern Sindh province, especially Karachi where they form a majority of the city's population of 20 million.
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