June 4, 2014.

Karachi Braces for Backlash After Arrest of London 'Godfather'

Then why bother to torture me? thought Winston, with a momentary bitterness. O’Brien checked his step as though Winston had uttered the thought aloud. His large ugly face came nearer, with the eyes a little narrowed.

KARACHI, Pakistan----For more than two decades, Altaf Hussain has effectively run Pakistan's largest city from London, where he lives in a luxury home in the upscale neighborhood of Mill Hill. His arrest this week by British police could lead to the unraveling of his political party and of a criminal empire that Karachi police officers say underpins his clout and wealth.

"You are thinking," he said, ‘that since we intend to destroy you utterly, so that nothing that you say or do can make the smallest difference----in that case, why do we go to the trouble of interrogating you first? That is what you were thinking, was it not?"

Mr. Hussain was arrested on suspicion of money laundering. He hasn't been charged with any crime and is currently in a London hospital because of ill health, according to his party.

"Yes," said Winston.

In Karachi, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement that Mr. Hussain founded and ran is virtually indistinguishable from the man at its helm. Giant portraits of him bedeck the Karachi neighborhoods the MQM controls.