LAHORE, Dec 03 (TNS): Just days after getting released from almost a year of confinement on Lahore High Court ordered the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has announced his plan to contest in the 2018 general election.
Speaking to media here on Saturday, Saeed said he would contest for the National Assembly seat from the platform of newly formed Milli Muslim League (MML) of which Religious scholar and longtime official of the group Saifullah Khalid is the president.
“The Milli Muslim League (MML) is planning to contest next year’s general elections.I also dedicate 2018 for Kashmiris who are struggling for freedom,” Saeed said while meeting a group of columnists at the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) headquarters in Chauburji here without revealing the constituency he would contest from.
MML was launched in August this year but is yet to be re-registered in Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) due the hindrance of Gov’t and opposition of many quarters.
Just after its launch MML entered in the political arena and contested by-poll from Lahore’s NA-120 which had fallen vacant after the disqualification of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case. People responded generously as its candidate Shaikh Yaqoob stood third in the contest by bagging 6000 votes and leaving behind many parties which has been in electoral politics for decades.
Saeed, who had been under house arrest since January, was released on 22 November when a judicial review board of the Lahore High Court rejected the Punjab government’s plea seeking a three-month extension on the detention.
“I want to tell India that I will continue support Kashmiris no matter what kind of difficulties we face. India wants us to stop raising voice for the Kashmiris. Saeed said, adding that India is trying to build pressure on Pakistani government. I want to tell Pakistan that back channel diplomacy only caused harm to the Kashmir cause.
Hafiz Saeed also claimed that his detention in Pakistan and Hurriyat leaders in India was part of an international agenda.
“This had been done to harm the Kashmir cause. India is angry over my release from the house detention. I warn India if it does not stop atrocities against Kashmiris then this struggle will rise further and it will face the music,” he said.
India had expressed outrage over the judicial board’s decision to release Saeed, calling it an attempt by Pakistan to mainstream proscribed terrorists and a reflection of its continuing support to “non-state actors”.
Hours after the court’s order for Saeed’s release, the Donald Trump administration expressed displeasure and said that he was designated “a terrorist leader by both the United Nations and the United States”.
As he walked free from house arrest, Hafiz Saeed who carries a bounty of $10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities told his supporters that he was detained for 10 months only “to stop my voice for Kashmir”.
On Tuesday last, Saeed petitioned the United Nations to remove his name from the global terrorist list. The UN had designated Saeed a terrorist after the 26 November, 2008 attacks in Mumbai, which killed 166 people.
