Fazlur Rehman Khalil, the founder of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) terrror group and a US-designated global terrorist with links to al-Qaeda, on Wednesday said he would support former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in the July 25 elections.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil was placed by the US Government on Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) list on September 30, 2014, for his alleged role in Harkat-ul- Mujahideen (HuM) militant organisation, which he reportedly founded in the past.
He later founded and is still heading Ansarul Ummah, which he says is a political party. Both HuM and Ansarul Ummah are on the SDGT list.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Asad Umar from a National Assembly seat in Islamabad announced on social media that Khalil has joined PTI but later corrected that the cleric decided to support him in the elections.
The controversial cleric’s announcement is the latest example of extremist groups playing active role in the elections in Pakistan.