Islamabad, July 15: Facebook has deleted the official page of Milli Muslim League (MML). The social networking giant has also deleted accounts of MML's candidates as well as supporters. The MML confirmed that its Facebook pages had been deleted. Besides this, the banned militant group-turned-political party also said that the Facebook had removed accounts of its supporters and workers. The MML alleged that the social networking website had disabled the accounts without any reason.

MML Spokesperson Tabish Qayyum has condemned Facebook’s action. “Freedom of expression is the basic right of every human and political party. In the meantime, when elections are near and each party is using social media, deleting MML’s accounts is an injustice,” reported Pakistan Today quoting Qayyum as saying. He even accused Facebook of violating its policy.

Around 200 candidates backed by the MML will contest the July 25 election under the banner of the Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek (AAT), across Pakistan. The AAT is an old Islamist political party which is listed at number 10 in the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) list of approved parties. Mian Ihsan Bari from Bahawalpur heads the AAT.

The MML was established in August 2017. It joined hands with AAT after the  ECP rejected the MML’s request for the registration on the basis of an interior ministry report that said the party followed the ideology of Jamaat-ud-Dawaa (JuD) chief Saeed.

In April, the US designated the MML as a foreign terrorist organisation, saying the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba members has formed its leadership. JuD is a banned militant group which is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT and is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans. The United States and the United Nations have designated it as a terror organisation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 15, 2018 03:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).