Daily Times

The political front of banned Jamaatud Dawa was once again denied registration by the Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday.

When it applied for registration last year, the outfit was asked by the ECP to obtain a security clearance certificate from the Ministry of Interior.

The Milli Muslim League (MML) was launched last year in August. Later in the year, reports emerged of an apparent policy rethink to mainstream extremist outfits in the country, by bringing them into the electoral arena. At a press briefing, the position was endorsed by the Inter-Services Public Relations, Armed Forces’ media wing.

Concerns were raised by rights activists on the mainstreaming of such outfits without a parallel concerted effort to purge them on all their militant wings.

The MML faced a major blow in April this year when it was blacklisted by the US as Washington ramped up pressure on Islamabad to crack down on extremist groups operating in the country. “The aliases [MML and TAJK] have been added to LeT’s designations as an FTO under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224,” the US State Department said.

The MML is an affiliate of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the outfit accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead and brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Six Americans were among those killed during the three-day rampage in Mumbai, when gunmen who arrived by sea fought pitched battles with Indian commandos.

JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, who carries a $10 million US bounty on his head, has remained under house arrest for several months before the Lahore High Court ordered the government to set him free. Saeed was declared a global terrorist by the US and United Nations over his alleged role in the Mumbai attacks and is accused of links to the Al-Qaeda terror network and Taliban militants. He has denied involvement in terrorism and the Mumbai attacks.

Also earlier in the year, Pakistani officials began seizing JuD assets following a vote by members of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) – a global anti-money laundering watchdog – to place Pakistan on a list of nations which are not doing enough to combat terror financing. The task force is due to meet again this month. With additional input from agencies

Published in Daily Times, June 14^th 2018.