Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and the mastermind of Mumbai terrorist attack Hafiz Saeed's new political outfit Milli Muslim League (MML) has fielded its candidate for the upcoming by-election of NA-120 in Pakistan.
However, the MML is yet to be registered as a political party with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, who will fight the election under the banner of MML, filed his nomination papers with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as an independent candidate on Saturday.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's wife Kalsoom Nawaz has also signed nomination papers for the NA-120 by-election, after the seat fell vacant following the disqualification of her husband by the Supreme Court.
"We would fully support Mr Sheikh in the by-poll," the Dawn quoted MML President Saifullah Khalid as saying during a press conference held in the Lahore Press Club.
Earlier MML President Saifullah Khalid announced that the party will contest the 2018 general elections and vowed to implement the ideology of Pakistan in accordance with the 1973 Constitution and the vision of Quaid-i-Azam and Allama Iqbal by joining hands with like-minded parties.
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Commenting on the ideology of his party, Khalid said, "We are in favour of an Islamic emirate or caliphate, but the current democracy is backed by the 1973 Constitution which is based on Quran and Sunnah," he added, "Not the kind of democracy that is free of all norms and ethics."
Hafiz Saeed appointed Saifullah Khalid, senior leader of the JuD, as the president of Milli Muslim League and kept himself and JuD's second -in -command Abdul Rehman Makki out of MML's command and control system.
The Jamaat-ud-Dawa's (JuD's) plans to venture into mainstream politics through its recently formed Milli Muslim League (MML) is being seen as a major happening in the country, as Pakistan recently elected its new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court over the Panama Papers scandal.
Saeed is also said to have close relations with the Pakistani Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
He even carries a bounty of 10 million USD (approx. Rs 66 crore) on his head for his role in the attack.
He is an internationally designated terrorist but continues to be an influential person in Pakistan's certain religious groups.
Pakistan claims to have banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), but following the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2002, it re-emerged as Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD). The United States has designated the JuD as a front for the LeT.
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