CHITRAL: Rah-e-Haq Party, formerly Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) that was outlawed in Pakistan, has announced to withdraw its candidate in NA-1 Chitral in support of Molana Abdul Akbar of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
The announcement was made by chief of Rah-e-Haq Party district Lower Chitral and candidate for the seat Molana Sirajul Haq Qureshi at a press conference here.
Speaking on the occasion, Qureshi said his party had decided to support Molana Abdul Akbar unconditionally for his role as MNA in introducing the Namoos-e-Risalat bill in National Assembly and getting it passed from parliament and making it a law.
He also said his party would help Molana Abdul Akbar in running his campaign across Chitral.
It may be mentioned here that when the federal government banned different militant organisations, ASWJ changed its name and got itself registered with the new name of Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party with the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Before that, it was known as the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), which was declared a proscribed organisation during the regime of former military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Molana Abdul Akbar remained MNA from 2002 to 2008 and then from 2018 to 2023.
In the 2018 elections, his party was in an alliance with the JUI. The alliance also won the only provincial assembly seat of Chitral.