Hafiz Saeed's Jammat-ud-Dawah launched the Milli Muslim League party last month (AFP).
Highlights
- Hafiz Saeed's Jammat-ud-Dawah launched political party last month
- Party backed a US-designated terrorist as candidate in bypoll this month
- Candidate says party will field contenders in every constituency in 2018
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Jammat-ud-Dawah will foray into Pakistan's political scene by contesting the 2018 general elections, a senior member of the outfit said, a day after its candidate finished third in a crucial by-poll. Last month, Jamaat-ud-Dawah or JuD, a front for the Lashkar-e- Taiba terrorist group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, announced that it was
launching the Milli Muslim League party.
Sheikh Yaqoob, a JuD-backed candidate who was defeated by ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's wife Kulsoom Nawaz yesterday from a parliamentary seat that fell vacant after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court, said the new front "will field candidates in every constituency of the country in next year's election".
Mohammad Yaqoob Sheikh (R) nominated candidate of political party, Milli Muslim League (MML). (Reuters)
Yaqoob was placed list of those designated as leaders of terrorist organisations by the US Treasury in 2012, The New York Times reported.
"We have got a very good response in NA-120 (bypoll). It was our first election and people have welcomed us," said Yaqoob, who contested as an independent candidate since the Milli Muslim League is yet to be registered as political party.
Residents ride on bike past election campaign signs along a road in Lahore (Reuters).
"We are here to stay in the political field. People want a party that talks about making Pakistan strong against its enemies - India, United States and Israel and at the same time help them in solving their basic livelihood problems," he said.
The JuD formed Milli Muslim League at the time when Saeed was detained in Lahore.
Saeed and his four aides - Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain - were placed under house arrest in Lahore on January 30 under anti- terrorism act.
The JuD has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in June 2014. The JuD chief also carries a USD 10 million American reward for evidence proving his role in terror activities.