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Hafiz Saeed – Wanted In US, Campaigning In Pakistan

Pakistan’s Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has been one of the United States’ most-wanted militant leaders in South Asia but despite a $10 million USD bounty on his head, he is now openly campaigning to win the seat of a former prime minister in the National Assembly.

In the past few weeks, Saeed has become the face of a new political party campaigning to win former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s seat in parliament.

According to the New York Times, last month, the Islamist charity that Saeed founded — Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is widely accused of being a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that waged the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and is on the United Nations list of global terrorist groups — announced that it was starting the Milli Muslim League political party.

However, the Election Commission of Pakistan has forbidden the display of Saeed’s picture on election posters, but this has done nothing to deter the man.

Instead, the constituency in Lahore is covered with posters showing Saeed, along with the official candidate, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, a senior Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader – who is also on the  United States Treasury sanctions list as a leader of a terrorist organization.

Saeed, who is under house arrest, cannot run for the seat himself nor can he attend campaign events in person.

The New York Times reported that Naveed Qamar, the party’s campaign manager, made no attempt to hide the party’s anti-India leaning or what he called its “ideological affinity” with Lashkar-e-Taiba, adding the party had the “full support and blessing” of Saeed.

“From the deepest recesses of his heart, no Pakistani wants friendship with India,” Qamar said. “In that way, we are with Lashkar-e-Taiba.”

The party, which says its goal is to unite Pakistan’s Muslims across all ethnicities and languages, is not yet formally registered with the election commission, because it submitted its documents only in August, so Sheikh is running as an independent candidate in the special election being held on Sunday to fill the seat, reported the New York Times.

“But that does not mean we are not a reality,” Qamar said. “We have launched our party, and our campaigning is going on in full swing.”

The campaign is seen as largely symbolic, and the party is not expected to win the seat.

In January, the Pakistani government put Saeed under house arrest to keep him from collecting funds for his charity in violation of United Nations resolutions. Pakistan also included the charity on an interior ministry watch list, though it did not ban it.

Hafiz Saeed – Wanted In US, Campaigning In Pakistan

Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million bounty on his head, has become the face of a new political party campaigning for a seat in parliament.

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Pakistan’s Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has been one of the United States’ most-wanted militant leaders in South Asia but despite a $10 million USD bounty on his head, he is now openly campaigning to win the seat of a former prime minister in the National Assembly.

In the past few weeks, Saeed has become the face of a new political party campaigning to win former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s seat in parliament.

According to the New York Times, last month, the Islamist charity that Saeed founded — Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is widely accused of being a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that waged the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and is on the United Nations list of global terrorist groups — announced that it was starting the Milli Muslim League political party.

However, the Election Commission of Pakistan has forbidden the display of Saeed’s picture on election posters, but this has done nothing to deter the man.

Instead, the constituency in Lahore is covered with posters showing Saeed, along with the official candidate, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, a senior Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader – who is also on the  United States Treasury sanctions list as a leader of a terrorist organization.

Saeed, who is under house arrest, cannot run for the seat himself nor can he attend campaign events in person.

The New York Times reported that Naveed Qamar, the party’s campaign manager, made no attempt to hide the party’s anti-India leaning or what he called its “ideological affinity” with Lashkar-e-Taiba, adding the party had the “full support and blessing” of Saeed.

“From the deepest recesses of his heart, no Pakistani wants friendship with India,” Qamar said. “In that way, we are with Lashkar-e-Taiba.”

The party, which says its goal is to unite Pakistan’s Muslims across all ethnicities and languages, is not yet formally registered with the election commission, because it submitted its documents only in August, so Sheikh is running as an independent candidate in the special election being held on Sunday to fill the seat, reported the New York Times.

“But that does not mean we are not a reality,” Qamar said. “We have launched our party, and our campaigning is going on in full swing.”

The campaign is seen as largely symbolic, and the party is not expected to win the seat.

In January, the Pakistani government put Saeed under house arrest to keep him from collecting funds for his charity in violation of United Nations resolutions. Pakistan also included the charity on an interior ministry watch list, though it did not ban it.

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