Saeed’s son, son-in-law among 265 JuD candidates in Pak polls

Mumbai-terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's son and his son-in-law are among 265 candidates fielded by the Jamaat-ud -Dawah for national and provincial assembly seats across Pakistan in the July 25 general election, with the banned group's political wing vowing to make the country a "citadel of Islam."

Saeed, who also carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for his role in terror activities, is not contesting the election.

The JuD, a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, launched its political front Milli Muslim League (MML). The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denied registration of the MML as a political party following objections from the Interior Ministry which argued that the entity was an offshoot of the JuD, led by Saeed, banned by a UN resolution.

With general elections approaching, the group decided to contest on the platform of a little known "dormant" political entity, Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT), registered with the ECP.

The nomination papers of all the MML backed candidates have been accepted by the Returning Officers during the scrutiny process, the MML said, reoprts PTI.

"The nomination papers of 265 candidates - 80 on National Assembly (NA) and 185 on provincial assembly seats - including that of Hafiz Saeed's son Hafiz Talha Saeed and son-in-law Hafiz Khalid Waleed have been accepted by the Returning Officers," a MML official told PTI on Thursday.

Talha is contesting from NA-91 seat from Sargodha (about 200-km from Lahore) while Khalid Waleed from NA-133 in Lahore on AAT's election symbol 'Chair', he said. Sargodha is the home town of Hafiz Saeed. Also, our candidates are contesting on Lahore's four NA seats and 15 Punjab Assembly seats, apart from these, the MML-backed candidates would be contesting on Islamabad and Rawalpindi NA seats, he said.

"Similarly, the MMLbacked candidates have been fielded in Karachi, interior Sindh and Kyber Pakhtunkhawa and other parts of the country," he added.