Islamabad: Pakistan's Interior Ministry has opposed the registration of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed's Milli Muslim League (MML) as a political party with the Election Commission saying that it as an "offshoot of proscribed entities".The ministry formed its opinion on the basis of a security agency’s report which expressed apprehensions that the registration of MML as a political party “would breed violence and extremism in politics,” Dawn newspaper reported.The ministry in its written reply submitted to the Islamabad High Court on a petition filed by MML seeking its registration with the ECP requested the court not to consider MML’s plea and dismiss the petition accordingly.
In September this year, MML-backed candidate Yaqoob Sheikh secured 5,822 votes and stood fourth in a by-election in Lahore’s National Assembly constituency NA-120.
The by-election was held after the disqualification of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court.According to the interior ministry’s reply, MML is the offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), organisations which India has said were involved in the 2008 Mumbai attack and the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament. (UNI)