Despite being denied registration by Pakistan’s Election Commission, the Milli Muslim League (MML), the political party floated by Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, managed to field a candidate in the Lahore byelection last week. Saeed, who is accused by the U.S. and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been under house arrest since January. “But he kept a close eye on the election,” said a JuD leader.

The government was apparently under pressure to act as the MML went ahead with the plan to contest the election to the seat vacated by ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Days before the election, Pakistan’s Election Commission sent a written note to the Interior Ministry, asking it about the MML. The Ministry replied that it had not given clearance to the MML’s candidate, Mohammed Yaqoob Sheikh. The party still decided to field Mr. Yaqoob as an independent candidate.

Mr. Yaqoob told reporters that the MML was founded on the vision of Saeed although he was not a member or leader of the party. “We have not seen failure in 30 years of our struggle. This byelection will prove that Lahore belongs to Professor Hafiz Saeed. This is our entry test into politics,” MML president Saifullah Khalid, another leader of the JuD, said at a campaign rally in Lahore. Mr. Yaqoob didn’t disappoint his leaders. He won 5,800 votes, beating candidates from mainstream parties like the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Jamaat-e-Islami, while Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of Mr. Sharif, won the election.

With Saeed’s picture printed on banners alongside the country’s founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the MML went all out against Mr. Sharif for “favouring” India. In the closing campaign rally, the candidate and other speakers blamed Mr. Sharif for being soft on India. “We supported him in the last elections but he talked about creating soft borders with India and wanting a visa-free border crossing,” said Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, a close aide of Saeed, as thousands of supporters cheered. The crowd shouted slogans such as Modi ka jo yaar hai ghaddar hai ghaddar hai (Any friend of Modi is a traitor), referring to Mr. Sharif.

Widespread concerns

Mr. Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N, which is in power both at the Centre and in Punjab, had expressed reservations over JuD’s political entry. The byelection had drawn international attention as well. A high-level U.S. official wrote a letter to Pakistan, expressing concerns. The government said it was up to the Election Commission to stop the MML candidate from contesting the poll.

“Following the U.S. démarche, we have conveyed our reservations in writing to the Election Commission and they should have stopped the MML candidate,” a senior government official told The Hindu, requesting anonymity. Whether the Pakistani government likes it or not, the MML is already in the mainstream.

“This is not how mainstreaming of a banned militant organisation is done. It will create more problems for Pakistan,” said Zahid Hussain, a senior Pakistani journalist and author. “If the MML wants to come to politics, it has to renounce its extremist and militant ideology. But by putting Hafiz Saeed on its campaign banner, the party is still indicating that it supports the ideology of a person declared as a global terrorist by the UN.”

The MML appears to be undeterred by criticism. “The election performance was rather encouraging,” said one party leader. “We have decided to field a candidate in the forthcoming byelection in NA-4 in Peshawar under the party’s banner.”

(Mubashir Zaidi writes for The Hindu and is based in Karachi)