Pakistan EC rejects application to register Hafiz Saeed's Milli Muslim League party

In a big setback for Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's political ambition, Pakistan Election Commission on Wednesday rejected the application to register his party Milli Muslim League (MML). The General elections in Pakistan will be held on July 25.

According to Pakistani media Geo TV, MML has been struggling to register as a political party since 2017. The ECP had directed the party to obtain a security clearance certificate from the Ministry of Interior last year when it had applied for registration.

Earlier this year, the United States added MML along with Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK) to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO), reasoning that both were fronts for banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that carried out the deadly 2008 Mumbai attack, launched its political front Milli Muslim League, but it has not been yet registered by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)

The JuD formed MML 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 was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The JuD chief also carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for his role in terror activities.

(With PTI inputs)