Altaf back in custody after stay in hospital

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan: LONDON: Altaf Hussain, the exiled leader of Pakistan’s MQM party, was returned to a police station in Britain for questioning on Friday after spending three days in hospital, officers said.
Hussain’s arrest at his suburban home in London on Tuesday in connection with alleged money laundering sparked protests in the city of Karachi, his party’s power base, and has fuelled questions about the future of the MQM’s political machine.
A spokeswoman for London’s Metropolitan Police said that following his arrest, 60-year-old Hussain had been allowed to attend a pre-arranged medical appointment on Tuesday. “At the request of medical professionals, he was kept in hospital until today,” the spokeswoman said.

Seven militants killed
Fresh clashes between the Pakistani Taleban and a breakaway faction killed at least seven militants in the country’s restive northwest on Friday, officials said. The fighting erupted in the Wacha Mela area 65 km west of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan tribal district.
Almost 100 militants have been killed since supporters of commander Khalid Mehsud, alias Khan Said Sajna, and the followers of the slain former Taleban chief Hakimullah Mehsud began fighting in April.
Khalid Mehsud’s group last week split from the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP), a move analysts described as a victory for the Pakistani military’s strategy of sowing divisions among insurgent factions.