LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court on Tuesday allowed the Defence Ministry more time to respond to a petition from Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed seeking government assistance for his defence in a lawsuit in the United States.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the LHC issued the order after deputy attorney general Nasim Kashmiri told the court that he had asked ministry officials in writing and over the phone to file a reply, but they had not.
The petition filed by Saeed asks that he be given the same assistance in the case as the government is giving to the Inter Services Intelligence chief and other officials also named in the lawsuit, which was filed by relatives of Americans killed in the Mumbai attacks of November 2008.
The suit accuses Saeed as chief of the Lashkar-i-Taiba, former ISI chief Gen Nadeed Taj and incumbent Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha and two alleged ISI agents of providing material support for the Mumbai attacks. In December last year, a US district court summoned the ISI officials and Saeed
Through his counsel AK Dogar, Saeed contended that he was head of the Jamaatud Dawa, a charity, and had no connection with Lashkar-i-Taiba. He said a full bench of the LHC had found, after the government detained him following the Mumbai attacks, that there was no evidence he had links to Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group.
The petitioner contended that the federal government had announced it would defend the ISI chief and others against the suit, so it should do the same for Saeed.
He said that as the Constitution guaranteed equal rights and protection to all citizens, the federal government should give him legal assistance in the same manner as the ISI chief and other officials.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2011.
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