Daily Times

As many as 265 candidates are contesting the upcoming general election from the platform of the Allah-ho-Akbar Tehreek (AAT), a front for banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD).

These include JuD chief Hafiz Saeed’s son Hafiz Talha Saeed and son-in-law Khalid Waleed.

The decision to field JuD backed candidates from the platform of the AAT, that is registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan with the symbol of chair, emerged after the Milli Muslim League’s (MML) registration was turned down twice.

Of the 265 candidates, 80 will be fielded on NA seats and 185 on provincial seats from across Pakistan.

Speaking to Daily Times on Friday, MML spokesman Tabish Qayyum said all 265 candidates were ordinary Pakistanis associated with different walks of life. However, he added, Hafiz Talha Saeed was a member of the JuD, while Hafiz Khalid Waleed was affiliated with the MML.

According to the MML spokesperson, Talha Saeed, a lecturer at a Lahore-based university, would contest the election from NA-91 Sargodha and Khalid Waleed from NA-133, a Lahore constituency from where disgruntled Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Zaeem Qadri has announced to contest as an independent. The PML-N ticket holder in the constituency is Waheed Alam Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) is Ijaz Chaudhry.

Legal experts maintain that the ECP could stop a political entity from contesting elections due to its links with proscribed outfits. However, it couldn’t prohibit individuals who meet the criteria laid out in the Constitution from contesting an election.

A four-member bench of the ECP had earlier dismissed MML’s application for registration after the Interior Ministry, in its report, maintained that the front was following the political ideology of proscribed JuD and its leader Hafiz Saeed.

Aurangzeb Farooqui’s nomination challenged

Separately on Friday, a resident in Karachi moved the Elections Appellate Tribunal, challenging the acceptance of Ahle Sunnah Wal Jamaat leader Aurangzeb Farooqui’s nomination papers from Malir’s PS-91.

In the appeal, the resident has argued that Farroqui is associated with banned outfits and has also been nominated in Khurrram Zaki’s murder FIR.

He has said that Farooqui, contesting under Rah-i-Haq Party’s banner, has also failed to disclose details of the FIR registered against him in his nomination papers.

In 2013 election, Farooqui was narrowly defeated in PS-128 constituency.

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.