Altaf Hussain (Urdu: الطاف حسین) (born 17 September 1953 in Karachi) is the founder and leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM). The MQM emerged as the third largest political party in the national assembly of Pakistan during 1988 and 1990 elections. The MQM secured representation in the parliamentary elections held in the northern areas of Pakistan comprising Kashmir & Gilgit-Baltistan. Since 1992 he has lived in the United Kingdom in self exile after surviving an assassination attempt in Pakistan.

Altaf Hussain was born to Nazir Hussain and Khursheed Begum on 17 September 1953 in Karachi.His parents belonged to religious families from Agra, India. After the formation of Pakistan in 1947, his parents migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi. Hussain’s grand-father, Mufti Mohammad Ramazan, was Grand Mufti of the town of Agra, UP, India and his maternal grand-father Haji Hafiz Raheem Bhux was a reputed religious scholar in India.

Altaf Hussain got his early education from Govt Comprehensive School, Azizabad No. 8 Karachi. He then completed his matriculation in 1969 from Government Boys Secondary School. He attended National College Karachi during First Year of his Intermediate Education (Pre-Medical/Science) but switched to City College Karachi during Second Year of Intermediate from where he completed Intermediate.After that he went on to complete his Bachelors of Science from Islamia Science College (Karachi) in 1974 apart from completing his Bachelor of Pharmacy by 1979 from the University of Karachi. After completion of his Bachelor of Pharmacy he later enrolled for his Master’s degree.

Born in November 1948, Najam Sethi (Urdu: نجم سیٹھی) is an award winning Pakistani journalist, editor, and media personality, is the editor-in-chief of The Friday Times, a Lahore based political weekly, and previously the editor of Daily Times and Daily Aajkal newspapers. Currently, he does a current-affairs program on Geo TV, Pakistan's most popular private news channel. He also owns Vanguard, a publishing house and a chain of bookstores.

He has been awarded the 2009 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers. He and his publications have been in conflict with Pakistani governments on many occasions. He was part of the "London Group" of Pakistani leftists that supported an uprising in Balochistan in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

In May 1999, he was imprisoned for one month without trial. However, he was released after an international outcry.^{[citation needed]}

He served in President Farooq Leghari's interim cabinet as Adviser on Political Affairs and Accountability after the fall of Benazir Bhutto's second government. On November 25, 2009, in an email sent to Daily Times online edition subscribers, Sethi announced his resignation from The Daily Times. In addition to himself, Khaled Ahmed (Contributing Editor), Ejaz Haider (Op-Ed Editor) and other senior staff also resigned.^{[citation needed]}