...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
chief
Maulana Fazlur RehmanDeobandi holy man, known as
Mullah Dieselduring the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ...
will try his luck for the National Assembly in three Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
constituencies during the upcoming elections.
During the last elections held in 2008, he was a candidate on two seats of the Lower House of Parliament.
He lost election in NA-24, home constituency, but won in NA-26, Bannu.
Speaking at a news conference here on Monday, JUI-F deputy chief Maulana Attaur Rehman said the party's parliamentary committee had decided that Mr Fazl would contest elections in NA-24, Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
, NA-25, Dera Ismail Khan-cum-Tank and NA-27, Lakki Marwat.
He said Mr Fazl's younger brother, Maulana Lutfur Rehman, would contest elections on two provincial assembly seats, PK-64 and PK-66.
Mr Atta said Mr Fazl filed nomination papers for NA-25 on Monday.
"I am optimistic that JUI-F will emerge as a major party in elections. Pakistain Moslem League-Nawaz is our favourite for seat adjustment in the province. Negotiations with it in this respect are in progress," he said.According to him, former provincial chief minister Akram Khan Durrani, who was the opposition leader in the provincial assembly, has been given the party ticket in NA-26 and PK-70, Bannu.
The JUI-F leader also named the party's candidates for the National Assembly seats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) and those in the provincial assembly. He said names of candidates for NA-5, Nowshera and NA-40, North Wazoo Agency had not been finalised, while the party would not field candidates in PK-67 and PK-69 due to seat adjustment with Gandapur and Javid families.