Pakistan court stays Sunni hardliner's election

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday halted the election to the national parliament of the leader of a banned hardline sectarian group, officials said. An election tribunal earlier this month declared Maulana Ahmad Ludhianvi, head of a group called Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), the elected member for the town of Jhang in Punjab province. Ludhianvi, whose organisation is listed as a terrorist outfit by the Pakistani government, came second in the seat in the May 2013 general election to Shaikh Mohammad Akram of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party. But he took the matter to an election tribunal and successfully challenged Akram over allegations of vote-rigging and defaulting on a loan. On Tuesday a three-judge Supreme Court panel stayed the tribunal's ruling until Akram has appealed. "The bench today suspended the order of the election tribunal disqualifying Shaikh Mohammad Akram and the notification by Election Commission of Pakistan declaring Maulana Ahmad Ludhianvi a returned candidate," a court official told AFP. The court would hear the appeal in three months time, he added. Akram's lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan argued that the tribunal could not declare the runner-up as victor because when a candidate was disqualified, a fresh election should be held. The hardline Sunni Muslim ASWJ is widely seen as a front for Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a group formed in the 1980s and responsible for murdering hundreds of Shiite Muslims whom it considers heretics. The interior ministry banned ASWJ as a terrorist group in 2012, but it operates freely in Pakistan and its banners are frequently seen at rallies. Ludhianvi ran on the ticket of the six-party religious alliance Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (United Religious Front), which did not not win a seat in the vote last year. PML-N emerged with a majority and formed the government under Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. ASWJ is also known as the political arm of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, one of the most active militant groups in Pakistan and responsible for a string of bloody attacks on Shiites. There has been a rise in sectarian violence in Pakistan after several deadly clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslim groups near Islamabad in November last year. Ahead of last year's election Ludhianvi said he wanted to be elected so he could spread what he called his "anti-Shiite mission" to a national audience. Shiites make up around 20 percent of Pakistan's population, which is largely Sunni.