Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led party to contest all seats in Pakistan elections

In a bold move ahead of the upcoming general elections scheduled for February 8, 2024, the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), led by the mastermind of the 26/11 terror attacks and founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, has revealed its lineup of candidates for every national and provincial assembly constituency across Pakistan. Notably, Hafiz Saeed’s son, Talha Saeed, is set to enter the political arena by contesting the polls from the National Assembly constituency NA-127 in Lahore. Meanwhile, PMML’s central president, Khalid Masood Sindhu, will vie for victory in NA-130 against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Hafiz Saeed, who is in jail since July 17, 2019, for other charges, was sentenced in April 2022 by a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore, Pakistan, to a jail term of 33 years for “financing terrorism.” Despite being designated a terrorist by the UN and EU in the 2000s, Saeed was neither charged nor extradited over nearly two decades, ANI quoted a Taipei-based analyst as saying. In a notification dated 8 April, the MHA said Hafiz Talha Saeed was a senior leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and head of the cleric wing of the terror outfit. Talha Saeed has been “actively involved in recruitment, fund collection, planning and executing attacks by LeT in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan. The electoral symbol for the PMML is the chair. It reported quoting the PMML spokesperson, Tabish Qayyum, that they had pitched their candidates for all National Assembly and provincial seats across the country, “We have left no seat uncontested.” However, he said that his party will be ready to make seat adjustments if and when contacted, Dawn reported. The PMML had taken part as Milli Muslim League, the political face of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa, in the 2018 general election but it failed to show any promising results from any constituency. The PMML emerged after the Milli League was banned by the government. Qayyum said that the party’s senior vice president, Faisal Nadeem, is contesting from NA-235, Karachi, finance secretary AR Naqvi from PP-156, Hafiz Abdul Rauf for NA-119, Khalid Naik Gujjar for PP-162, Punjab general secretary Muzamil Iqbal Hashmi from NA-77, Gujranwala. Meanwhile, after the extended deadline for submitting nomination papers for national and provincial constituencies ended on Sunday evening, the 2024 general elections entered the next phase, according to Dawn. Since the final lists of eligible candidates contesting elections will be made public by the Pakistan Election Commission when the vetting process is completed in the coming days, intense competition is expected in several constituencies. Many candidates or their representatives went to the offices of their respective returning officers in Punjab to file nomination papers. Citing reports, Dawn reported that as many as 600 candidates filed nomination papers for Lahore’s 14 National Assembly and 30 provincial constituencies. Those who filed papers included Atta Tarar (PML-N), Ijaz Buttar (PTI) and Asif Hashmi (PPP) in NA-117; Hamza Shehbaz (PML-N) and Muhammad Madni (PTI) in NA-118; Maryam Nawaz (PML-N), Aleem Khan (IPP) and Hafiz Rauf in NA-119; Maryam Nawaz, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Atta Tarar in NA 120 and Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Ayaz Sadiq and Ch Javaid in NA 121. Imran Khan, Sardar Latif Khosa, Azhar Siddique, Khawaja Saad Rafiq, Salman Rafiq, and Hafiz Talha filed nomination papers in NA-122, while Shehbaz Sharif and Liaqat Baloch filed nomination papers in NA-123, according to Dawn. With inputs from agencies