Ex-chairman Senate asks why banned terrorist outfits allowed contesting elections

Former chairman of Senate Mian Raza Rabbani has asked the caretaker government to clarify how and why banned terrorist outfits’ leaders were being allowed to contest Elections 2018.

Other members of the Senate also lashed out at state authorities over allowing extremist ideologies to permeate society and the authorities failure to protect candidates and the public ahead of the July 25 elections
Referring to the participation of members of banned outfits in the forthcoming elections, Rabbani said a new phenomenon was emerging on the model of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.
“The interior minister should reveal how [members of] banned organisations were allowed to contest the elections,” he said. “How were the names of [members of] banned outfits removed from the Fourth Schedule?” he asked. Banned Deobandi takfiri terrorist outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba (ASWJ) and allied groups were allowed to contest elections.
“What will the atmosphere of the parliament look like if even 25 of such people are elected?” he questioned.
Rabbani also complained that while orders to arrest political workers were “being implemented swiftly”, there was silence on the Mastung incident.
Rabbani also lamented that the state was still continuing on its past course, and warned that “engineered elections are ringing the alarm for the federation”.
He complained that the PPP leadership is being hindered from campaigning.
“The Election Commission [of Pakistan] is sleeping,” he said, asking why no action was being taken even though the PPP had named the persons pressurising its candidates to switch allegiances.
“Will the interior minister again say that those who were attacked were not on the list of those facing security threats?” he wondered.