Days after walking free from house arrest on an order from Lahore high court, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and alleged mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks Hafiz Saeed on Saturday announced to take part in the general elections 2018 on the National Assembly seat.
Addressing the media, the Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief said that he would contest the election on the platform of the Milli Muslim League (MML). He, however, did not disclose anything about the constituency.
Earlier in August this year, JuD had launched the MML. Religious scholar and longtime official of the group Saifullah Khalid is the president of MML.
The party had claimed to work to make Pakistan a real Islamic and welfare state.
The development comes just days after his release from house arrest which he had been sentenced to since January 2017. The move sparked outrage in India, with the Ministry of External Affairs dubbing it as an attempt by the Pakistani system to “mainstream proscribed terrorists”.
“Pakistan has not changed its policy of shielding and supporting non-state actors and its true face is visible for all to see... India, as indeed the entire international community, is outraged that a self-confessed and UN-proscribed terrorist is being allowed to walk free and continue his evil agenda,’’ MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said on his release.
Saeed vowed to continue his fight for ‘azad Kashmir’ soon after his release by a Pakistani court.
Saeed, a United Nations-designated terrorist was freed from house arrest last week on an order from the Lahore high court. The US has also branded Saeed a terrorist and put a $10 million bounty on his head after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
