Pak poll body has no way to check on banned groups
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Election Commission has no mechanism to determine if any individual proscribed by the government for involvement in terrorism is contesting the general elections to be held on July 25, according to a media report on Monday.
The Election Commission has not yet approached the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), which maintains consolidated data on banned terror organisations and individuals, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
The panel has also not kept the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is involved in scrutinising election candidates, in the loop about individuals designated under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act, the report said.
The report comes against the backdrop of Hafiz Saeed’s Milli Muslim League (MML) party fielding 265 candidates for polls to the federal and provincial assemblies on the platform of the Allahhu-Akbar Tehreek (AAT) after the poll panel refused to register the MML.
Among the candidates are Saeed’s son Talha Saeed, who was designated a global terrorist by the US in 2012. Under an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act earlier this year, such an individual should also be automatically listed under the Fourth Schedule.
An unnamed election Commission official blamed the FIA for the current state of affairs. “If someone’s name is on the Fourth Schedule list, it is not possible that FIA does not know about it. The FIA is part of online scrutiny,” the official was quoted as saying by the Tribune.
However, an FIA official said the organisation had not been directed to guide the poll panel about proscribed individuals.
“FIA has data on persons already placed on the Fourth Schedule list and it also knows which persons were wanted by law. During the 2013 general election, FIA was not asked to guide the (Election Commission) so some individuals listed on the Fourth Schedule list managed to dodge the system,” he said.
NACTA chief Ihsan Ghani blamed provincial home departments for not doing more to keep proscribed individuals out of the election process.
According to NACTA data, a total of 7,779 individuals have been proscribed across Pakistan. A total of 4,808 bank accounts of people on the Fourth Schedule had been frozen.