This story is from June 23, 2018

Banned groups use loopholes to contest Pak polls

Banned groups use loopholes to contest Pak polls
Hafiz Saaed (C) with Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek nominated candidate Chaudhry Saeed Ahmed (L). (AFP photo)
Key Highlights
  • JuD chief Hafiz Saeed-linked Milli Muslim League (MML) entered an alliance with a dormant but registered party Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT)
  • AAT awarded tickets to 265 MML candidates for the July 25 election for national and provincial assembly seats
  • MML candidates include Hafiz Saeed’s son, Hafiz Talha Saeed, and son-in-law Khalid Waleed
ISLAMABAD: Despite being an unregistered party, members of Milli Muslim League (MML), the political face of banned terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), led by mastermind of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed, will have its candidates in the fray.
MML entered an alliance with a dormant but registered party Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT). AAT, which has a ‘chair’ as its election symbol, awarded tickets to 265 MML candidates for the July 25 election for national and provincial assembly seats.
MML candidates include Hafiz Saeed’s son, Hafiz Talha Saeed, and son-in-law Khalid Waleed.

MML’s participation in elections has exposed the gaps in the system as both Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and ministry of interior had denied the party registration, citing concerns about the activities of its leaders and members. Both institutions said it was the political face of banned militant groups.
AAT chairman Ihsan Bari denied any electoral alliance with any group or party and said it had awarded 300 tickets. “MML announced its support for our candidates, which now number more than 300. Another party from Karachi, Pakistan Hamdard Party, is also supporting our candidates,” he said.
Political analysts said AAT is a front for the proscribed party, and will most likely propagate JuD’s agenda. “AAT’s election campaign will follow the controversial, extremist and anti-India agenda of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF),” Nazrul
Islam, a renowned journalist, told TOI.
“MML had indicated its intention to contest elections on AAT tickets but ECP had failed to take action,” Nazrul Islam said, adding that it will be a test for ECP and the interim government to sort this out.
“ECP can establish its writ by delisting AAT on grounds that it had denied registration of MML,” he said.
Some observers said the entrance of new entities like MML and Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasul Allah (TLYRA) — the party which brought life to a stop in Islamabad and Rawalpindi last year with a month-long sit-in — will play a role in determining the fate of mainstream parties in the forthcoming elections. “None of these candidates will win seats but they will cut into the votes of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Punjab, given that Nawaz Sharif’s party used to draw right-wing votes from Punjab,” said analyst Amir Jalil Bobra.
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