Pro-Saudi Deobandi cleric announces to contest 2018 polls

Pro-Saudi Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) of Deobandis will participate in next year’s general elections along with its allies, its central executive committee of Tahir Ashrafi-led faction announced on Wednesday.

The decision came days after candidates backed by two religious parties with extremist leanings made their presence felt in the by-poll for NA-120 constituency in Lahore on Sunday.
The council would also push for electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 general elections, he said.
The participants of the meeting reposed confidence in the leadership of Ashrafi as the council’s chairman and Maulana Abdul Hameed Watto as its general secretary. Qazi Matiullah Saeedi was elected deputy secretary general of the PUC.
Mr Ashrafi proposed training workshops for students and teachers of the Wifaqul Madaris al-Arabia to help them move into the mainstream.
PUC is now divided into mainly two groups and Qasmi group had expelled Ashrafi over his malpractices. Ashraf was caugh drunkard and accused of taking funds from foreign countries.