PAK EC BARS GROUP WITH SAEED LINKS
Pakistan’s Election Commission on Wednesday rejected an application for registration of Milli Muslim League (MML), an offshoot of Hafiz Saeed’s banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), as a political party after the Interior Ministry raised objections over its links with the terrorist groups.
The MML had applied for registration with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for recognition as a political party so that it could use the platform to contest polls. The ECP rejected it after a hearing and asked the party to get clearance from the Interior Ministry which, through a letter, had asked the commission not to register MML due to its ties to banned terrorist outfits.
“The Interior Ministry’s letter mentions that the MML is backed by banned terrorist outfits,” chief election commissioner Sardar Raza Khan said.
In a detailed letter last month, the ministry advised the ECP to ban the newly formed MML as it was associated with Saeed, who carries a $10 million bounty on his head.
Saeed’s JuD has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in June 2014. During the hearing, the MML lawyer asked the ECP to recognise the party as it has followed all legal procedure while applying for the registration.
MML was set up in August and the same month it applied for registration with the ECP, which had sought opinion of the Interior Ministry. “There is evidence to substantiate that Lashkar-e-Tayaba (LeT), the JuD and Falah-eInsaniat Foundation are affiliates and ideologically of the same hue and the registration of the MML is not supported,” the ministry wrote back to the ECP.
‘JUD CHIEF TO BE FREED IF NO EVIDENCE GIVEN’
A Pakistan court has warned that it would end the house arrest of terrorist leader Hafiz Saeed, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, if the government doesn’t submit evidence against him. The JuD chief and his four aides were placed under house arrest in January under the AntiTerrorism Act.
Lahore high court heard the appeal against Saeed’s detention on Tuesday. However, the Interior Secretary who was expected to bring the documents related to Saeed’s detention failed to appear before the court, the Pakistan media reported.