US declares MML a terrorist group

Saifullah Khalid (2nd L), President of Milli Muslim League (MML) political party, holds a party flag with others during a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan August 7, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood/File Photo

• Hafiz Saeed’s political party suffers major setback ahead of Pakistan’s general elections.
• “Whatever Lashkar-e-Taiba choses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group,” said Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department.

LAHORE: A bid to register Milli Muslim League (MML) — a party formed last year to provide a political face for Hafiz Saeed’s banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) party — suffered a major setback when the United States put it on its list of Global Terrorist Organizations on Monday.
The MML, which was formed after an international ban was placed on the JuD, took part in the NA-120 by-elections in Lahore and its candidate came fourth, netting a significant number of votes.
MML contacted the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over registration, but was turned down over links to Hafiz Saeed, who is on the list of global terrorists and alleged to have masterminded the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Subsequently, MML’s leadership contacted the Islamabad High Court. The court declared the ECP’s decision was unlawful and told the election body to hear the case again.
“Following the court decision, we appeared before the ECP to get our party registered,” Ahmad Nadeem, MML’s Secretary Information, told Arab News.
The party saw a ray of hope when the ECP asked its lawyer to provide evidence that the office bearers of the party did not belong to a banned outfit.
“We will provide an affidavit to show that the party leaders have no connection with any proscribed group,” lawyer Raja Rizwan Abbasi told Arab News.
On Monday the MML was ordered by the ECP to produce a clearance certificate from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) to push its case for registration.
However, these efforts foundered move by the US Department of State, which also added Tehreek-e-Azadi Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK) to its list of terrorist organizations. The State Department also included seven office-bearers of MML on its terrorist lists.
Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department, said the move aimed to crack down on Lashkar-e-Taiba’s attempts to “circumvent sanctions and deceive the public about its true character.”
“Make no mistake: whatever Lashkar-e-Taiba chooses to call itself, it remains a violent terrorist group,” he added.
The US state department action complicates MML’s efforts to register — the Attorney General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali has previously said the government must act against internationally-designated terrorist organizations.
“Pakistan is a responsible country that adheres to commitments made under various international conventions and treaties. It is the obligation of our country to march with the changing times and enhance our capacity to combat terrorism in any form,” he recently said while talking to Arab News.