Pak elections: US-designated terrorist’s group to support Imran Khan’s PTI

Islamabad, July 18: Founder of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), a global terrorist designated by the US with links to al-Qaeda, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, on Tuesday (July 17) said that he would support cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in the general elections on July 25.

Khalil was placed on the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) by the US in September 2014 for his alleged role in HuM - militant organisation which he reportedly set up. He later found Ansarul Ummah, a group also placed on the SDGT list, though Khalil says it is a political party.

Asad Umar, the PTI candidate contesting from a National Assembly seat in Islamabad, had earlier announced on a social media post that Khalil joined his party but later corrected it to say that he was only supporting the PTI in the upcoming elections, reports said.

The elections in Pakistan this year have been one of the most violence-affected. A number of attacks have already taken place on secular parties with a few candidates even lost their lives. On Friday, a suicide attack at an election rally Southwestern Pakistan's Balochistan province left 149 people dead, making it the biggest tragedy since the attack on a school in Peshawar in 2014.

Khan has a fair chance of becoming the next prime minister of the country, especially after the ouster, conviction and imprisonment of former PM Nawaz Sharif in connection to corruption.