HAFIZ SAEED’S SON, SONINLAW AMONG 265 JUD CANDIDATES

Lahore:lashkar-e-taiba founder Hafiz Saeed’s son and son-in-law are among 265 candidates fielded by the Jamaat-ud-dawah for national and provincial assembly seats across Pakistan for the July 25 general elections.

After the Election Commission refused to register the Milli Muslim League, a political front created by JUD, the group decided to contest the elections on the platform of the little-known Allahhu-akbar Tehreek (AAT), which is registered with the poll panel.

The Jud’s political wing has vowed to make Pakistan a “citadel of Islam”. Saeed is not contesting the elections himself.

MML president Saifullah Khalid and AAT chief Ehsan Bari agreed to field joint candidates on the platform of ATT.

The nomination papers of 80 candidates for National Assembly seats and 185 for provincial assembly seats, including those of Saeed’s son Hafiz Talha Saeed and son-in-law Hafiz Khalid Waleed, have been accepted by returning officers.

Talha Saeed is contesting from a constituency in Sargodha and Waleed from a constituency in Lahore. They both will use the AAT’S election symbol of a chair. Sargodha is the hometown of Saeed.

Khalid said his party would not leave a vacuum in the elections for secular forces as Pakistan was “created in the name of Islam”. He said, “We have entered the political arena not to get power, but to fight corruption, eliminate politics of opportunism, strengthen the ideology of Pakistan and make the country a citadel of Islam.”