Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London

Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London
متحدہ قومی موومنٹ - لندن
LeaderAltaf Hussain
SpokespersonAftab Baqai
ConvenerMustafa Azizabadi
FounderAltaf Hussain
Founded18 March 1984 (1984-03-18)
Dissolved12 August 2025
Preceded byMuhajir Qaumi Movement
All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organization
HeadquartersEdgware, London, United Kingdom (last/final)
Nine Zero, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan (former, demolished in 2016)
Student wingAll Pakistan Muttahidda Students Organization (APMSO)
IdeologyLiberalism
Social liberalism
Muhajir nationalism
Secularism
Political positionCentre
ColorsRed, green and white
   
SloganEmpowering People
Party flag
Website
www.mqm.org

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London (Urdu: متحدہ قومی موومنٹ - لندن, Muttaḥidah Qọ̄mī Mūwmaṅṫ Laundan), also known as MQM–London (Urdu: ایم کیو ایم - لندن), previously known as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement – Altaf or MQM–Altaf, was a Muhajir nationalist and secular socio-liberalist political party in Pakistan that was founded by Altaf Hussain in 1984. Currently the party was split between multiple factions. The MQM–London faction, which was controlled by Altaf Hussain from London, while the separate MQM–Pakistan was run by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui based in Pakistan, while another, the MQM-Haqiqi faction, was led by Afaq Ahmed. Its electoral symbol was a kite.

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 term Muhajir (which denoted the party's roots among the country's Urdu-speaking community) from its name and replaced it with Muttahida ("United"). The MQM was generally known as the party that once held strong mobilizing potential in Karachi, having formerly been the dominant political force in the city.

The party had kept its influence over Pakistan's federal government as a key coalition partner since the late 1980's (including 1988–1990, 1990–1992, 2002–2007, 2008–2013). However, in 2015, MQM parliamentarians resigned from the National Assembly, Senate and Provincial Assembly of Sindh in protest against a crackdown on party supporters.

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, including Farooq 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.

The party was officially dissolved on 12 August 2025 by Altaf Hussain who, after having worked for it for almost 47 years since its founding in 1978, told his party workers that they were free to join any party that they wished. This came after the party had been inactive for almost 9 years since the Nine Zero raids of 2016. Hussain cited the repression of his family, continued persecution of his followers, failing to secure rights for Muhajirs, and Pakistan's rigid and unchangeable system for doing so.