Aam Aadmi Party (Pakistan)

For the Indian political party bearing a similar name, see Aam Aadmi Party.
Aam Aadmi Party
عام آدمی پارٹی
Leader Arslan Ul Mulk
Founded January 2014 (renaming)
Headquarters Ghakhar Mandi City, Gujranwala.
Ideology Anti-corruption
Colours White and green
Election symbol
Brick

Aam Aadmi Party (Urdu: عام آدمی پارٹی‎; sometimes spelled Amm Admi Party[1]) is a Pakistani political party that was formerly known as the Pakistan Muhajir League[lower-alpha 1] until its name-change on 1 January 2014. The change of name mirrored the name chosen a few weeks earlier for a party in India.[3]

The party is led by Arslan Ul Mulk, a human rights activist from Gujranwala,[4] who has been in charge since 2011. It aims to campaign on issues relating to imprisonment and police torture. Mulk said it would strive to make Pakistan a country as dreamt of by its founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.[4]

Briefly detained on 3 February 2014 under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, Mulk embarked on a series of Hunger Strike Camps in various cities across Pakistan.[4] Ever since then Mulk has been booked and detained several times by Police on charges related to political activism.Arslan Ul Mulk however faces a determined opposition which sees him as a newcomer in an already crowded field of Pakistani Politics unlike Arvind Kejriwal of Indian AAP,who drew his fame from his mentor Anna Hazare who has had led a prolonged struggle against corruption.[5]

Ideology

Mulk says they have a 54-point agenda that includes the elimination of hereditary politics, restoration of self-esteem of the common man, omission of word impunity from the country through legislation and getting rid of corruption [6]

In April 2014, Adnan Randhawa, a former civil servant and anti-corruption activist from Burewala, formed another party bearing a similar name, being the Aam Aadmi Party of Pakistan (AAPP). Randhawa had previously been involved with Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf but became disillusioned, especially because he thought it was moving to the right of the political spectrum and was increasingly dominated by the very ruling elite that it had set out to challenge. According to The Times of India, Randhawa says his AAPP "lays greater emphasis on national rejuvenation" than Mulk's AAP and it has a wider focus on social issues such as poverty.[7][1]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ The origins of the Pakistan Muhajir League are uncertain. There was a group bearing that name in the 1960s.[2]

Citations

  1. 1 2 "List of Political Parties Enlisted with ECP" (PDF). Election Commission of Pakistan. May 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  2. ↑ Salman, Peerzada (9 February 2015). "This week 50 years ago: Muhajirs advised to disassociate from political wrangles". -Dawn. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "ECP dissolves AQ Khan's party". The Nation. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Inspired by AAP, party with same name launched in Pakistan". The Times of India. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  5. ↑ http://www.thenews.com.pk/print/74861-pakistani-aam-aadmi-party-seeks-end-to-dynastic-politics
  6. ↑ http://tribune.com.pk/story/996090/formal-start-amm-admi-party-launched-in-k-p/
  7. ↑ Mukherji, Anahita (6 April 2014). "An echo of India's Aam Aadmi Party in Pakistan". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 February 2015.

Further reading

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