Dawa had launched MML in August this year but its application to register the league as a political party was twice rejected by Pakistan's election commission.
Source/Credit: The Times of India
By Omer Farooq Khan | December 2, 2017
MML's avowed mission is to make Pakistan a "true" Islamic state.
Leading Pakistani newspapers including The News reported on Saturday that Saeed had announced his decision to contest the elections to the Pakistan national assembly at a press conference in Lahore.
Saeed, who has a $10 million bounty on him by the US state department since 2012 for his role in acts of terror, was set free last week after the Pakistan government decided against his home detention.
Earlier this year, the Milli Muslim League (MML), the political party formed by JuD, had signalled its intention to contest the general elections+ next year. This is the first time Saeed has openly talked about contesting elections himself. In the past, Saeed has backed PML(N) chief Nawaz Sharif.
MML is not recognised by the Election Commission of Pakistan, but this did not prevent its "proxy" candidate from contesting and coming third in Lahore bypolls in which deposed PM Nawaz Sharif's wife Kulsum Nawaz won by small margin.
Saeed asserted that he would contest as an MML candidate. Dawa had launched MML in August this year but its application to register the league as a political party was twice rejected by Pakistan's election commission. MML's avowed mission is to make Pakistan a "true" Islamic state.
Many political analysts in Pakistan believe that if MML fails to get recognition as a political party due to pressure from the United States, Saeed and his party members will contest elections through their proxy candidates or parties.
But observers believe that MML will sooner or later get recognition by the ECP and will likely contest the elections to weaken the Nawaz Sharif's party PML-N which used to draw most Islamist right wing vote from Punjab province.
The Pakistani government's capitulation to the Islamist right wing party Tehreek-e-Labbaik party headed by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, which was at the forefront of the recent protests against Pakistan's law minister over a perceived "blasphemy", is also being seen as erosion of PML-N's stronghold in Punjab politics.
Read original post here: Pakistan: Internationally wanted Terrorist Hafiz Saeed to contest elections next year
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