Against house arrest: LHC puts off hearing of JuD chief’s plea

Judges did not hear the case since a new roster of judges has been issued.

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a petition challenging the detention of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and his four aides.

The bench comprising Justice Kazim Raza Shamsi and Justice Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad said they would not be able to hear the matter since the new roster of judges had been issued for next week.

They said the petition would be duly fixed before a new bench designated for terrorism cases and adjourned the hearing till April 12.

Saeed and his aides Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid, Qazi Kashif Hussain and Abdullah Ubaid had challenged their detention.

Referring to an Indian movie in which Saeed was portrayed as a villainous character, Justice Kazim said the government should see if there was any international conspiracy against Pakistani citizens.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2017.