The Milli Muslim League (MML) has sent a legal notice to the returning officer of the NA-4 Peshawar constituency, asking him to apologise for calling the MML a “proscribed” organisation.
According to details, the MML has asked the returning officer, Muhammad Ishaq Khan, to apologise within seven days or face a defamation notice of up to one-hundred million rupees. The MML is currently contesting the NA-4 by-elections via proxy, having given their support to independent candidate Haji Liaqat Ali Khan, much as they did in the recent by-election of Lahore’s NA-120 constituency.
The returning officer had, earlier in the week, sent a show cause notice to Haji Liaqat telling him that his support and acceptance of the MML’s backing of his candidacy was a violation of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) regulations since the MML was a “proscribed outfit.”
The MML had responded in turn, with their spokesperson Tayyab Qayyum going on the offensive and taking on the ECP. In his response, the spokesperson questioned the autonomy of the ECP, and said that any notice should be made public so that it can be challenged in courts as the MML is a party that believes in due process and the rule of the law. Qayyum also argued that the MML giving their support to a personality should not be an issue and that “the ECP should try to be unbiased.”
Now, the MML has also sent a legal notice to the returning officer after conferring with their legal team, just as they had warned when the show cause notice was first sent. The notice was sent through Supreme Court Advocate Abdur Rehman.
In the returning officer’s show cause notice, the candidate had been asked to respond within three days and the legal notice has been dispatched on the eve of the third day from when the original notice was sent. However, it is pertinent to note that according to official statements coming from the MML, the notice has been sent by the outfit and not by Haji Liaqat, who is yet to respond to the show cause notice.
The notice now becomes the second one-hundred million defamation notice coming from these quarters in the past few days.
As close back as September 30, Jammatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed had also sent a one-hundred million defamation notice to Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif. The infamous Saeed is the chief of the banned JuD and is now the spiritual and de-facto leader of the MML, which is the political wing of the JuD.