Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain was discharged from a London hospital in the early hours of Saturday after being admitted for a second time in a month, a party leader said.

The MQM founder was last hospitalised in London on July 10 due to “severe illness”. After undergoing multiple tests and blood transfusions, he was discharged on July 23.

Hussain was allowed to leave the hospital at 12:30am GMT (5:30am PKT) today after being treated in its emergency ward for nine hours and undergoing various tests, London-based senior MQM leader Mustafa Azizabadi said on X.

“After various tests, doctors diagnosed him with severe flu and a chest infection. The doctors prescribed antibiotics and other medications for Mr Altaf Hussain and advised him to take complete rest,” Azizabadi said.

Detailing Hussain’s hospital stay, Azizabadi noted the MQM founder “underwent a blood test, [electrocardiography], chest X-ray, and monitoring of oxygen levels”.

“Hussain has expressed his gratitude to all the workers and the public who prayed for his recovery during his illness,” Azizabadi said.

The MQM founder had also remained in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Britain, apparently after contracting Covid-19 in February 2021.

Hussain has been in self-imposed exile since 1992 and currently lives in London, where he was later granted British citizenship. From there, Hussain played an active role in politics, regularly broadcasting political speeches to his followers in Karachi.

Previously known as the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, Hussain founded his party in 1984 to represent the Urdu-speaking community, which had migrated to Pakistan amid Partition.

Under Hussain’s leadership, MQM swept the 1988 election in Sindh’s urban areas, emerging as the third-largest party in the country.

The MQM under Hussain was accused of using violent tactics to attain and retain political power. On the contrary, Hussain maintained that the state and other political parties have targeted MQM and its workers ever since its formation

Viewed as the man who controlled Karachi from London, Hussain came under fire in May 2013 for his televised speech across Pakistan, where he allegedly demanded the separation of Karachi from the rest of Pakistan if the public mandate of his party was not acceptable to the ‘establishment’. The party later said the statement was taken out of context.

However, the final undoing of the MQM, as it was known, came after Hussain delivered an incendiary speech in August 2016 in which he raised slogans against Pakis­tan.