The Ahle Sunnat wal Jammat has endorsed Pakistan Tehrik i Insaaf candidate, Engineer Najeeb Haroon, in the hotly contested by-elections of the PS-114 constituency despite the PML-N seeking the support of the ASWJ three days before the endorsement came.
The backing comes after the federal ruling party’s candidate, Ali Akbar Gujjar, visited the ASWJ leadership to try and formulate an alliance to aid his platform which is slowly losing speed.
The endorsement of the PTI candidate came via the ASWJ’s official Karachi twitter account. The tweet was a simple statement of complete support extended to Engineer Najeeb Haroon from the banned outfit.
اهلسنت والجماعت حلقہ PS 114 سےتحریک انصاف کےامیدوارانجنیئرنجیب ہارون کی مکمل حمایت کاعلان کرتےہیں
ترجمان اھلسنت والجماعت #ASWJ#PTI#PS114— ASWJKarachi (@ASWJKhiOfficial) July 7, 2017
The statement was made not only through the official Karachi account but also a number of other social media accounts and twitter handles operated by the fundamentalist organisation.
Before the endorsement of the PTI candidate came late last night, the leadership of the sectarian outfit had publicised a meeting with the PML-N Senior Vice President Sindh and candidate for the election, Ali Akbar Gujjar. According to the statement issued by the ASWJ on their facebook page, Ali Akbar Gujjar had asked the ASWJ for help and support in the upcoming election.
However, the PML-N had not been successful in their mission as according to the ASWJ thye had presented a list of terms to Mr Gujjar to be accepted and fulfilled before the election. Three days later however, the ASWJ announced full support to the the PTI candidate with no publicised or known meeting between the leaders of the two camps.
The election in PS-114 is on the verge of going to the ballot and is being fiercely fought. All major parties have fielded a candidate and other parties have picked sides. The ASWJ being involved in such a tough and symbolic election comes less than a couple of months after the the federal government “expressed concerns” about the activities of the outlawed outfit in the Sindh province after an alarming report of the National Counter-terrorism Authority (Nacta) claimed they were working in the guise of the “Sunni Rabbata Committee.”
The concerns of the PML-N lead federal government were, however, seemingly not enough to stop their candidate in Sindh’s capital from seeking out the ASWJ for aid in his election campaign.
The PML-N has not commented as to the nature of the visit and it was the ASWJ that made-known the meeting. The move on the PML-N’s part can be seen only as one of desperation given that the PML-N campaign in the constituency has not been able to pick up pace even though the seat had initially been won by the PML-N and the by-election called by the Supreme Court over allegations of rigging.
And while the PTI has rubbished any support of the ASWJ and have rejected their endorsement, they too were thought by the ASWJ radical enough to acquiesce to the demands that had been placed in front of the PML-N.
The ASWJ has had a history of infiltrating and influencing elections despite their status as a banned organisation. In December 2016, Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi won the by-election polls for the provincial assembly seat from the Jhang PP-78 constituency. The now MPA, who is the son of Sipa-e-Sahaba founder Haq Nawaz Jhangvie, ran on an independent ticket but was backed in full by the proscribed ASWJ.
Reportedly, the PPP candidate Saeed Ghani has been the only one who has completely rejected the ASWJ and disallowed any of them or their associates to be involved in his campaign let alone seek help from them.