PHOTO: EXPRESS / FILE
LAHORE: Lahore High Court Justice Aminuddin Khan on Wednesday ordered the registrar office to consolidate all petitions related to the possible arrest of Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafiz Saeed who feared that the government may arrest him just to please America and India.
Justice Khan took up the matter, but lawyers of the federal and provincial governments asked the court for more time to submit replies. To this, the justice gave another chance to them to submit replies.
Advocate AK Dogar, the counsel of petitioner Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, contended that the government wanted to arrest the JuD chief after coming under pressure from America and India. He requested the court to restrain the federal and provincial governments from arresting him. The court will resume its hearing of the case on April 23.
Earlier in the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel had contended that a delegation of the United Nations (UN) was arriving in Pakistan on January 26 and the government had planned to take strict action against Hafiz Saeed. “Saeed is the founder and chairman of JuD and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and his organisations have established 142 schools and three universities.
The JuD chief has been engaged in public welfare activities for the last several years.”
The counsel said the Punjab government had earlier detained the petitioner under the Maintenance of Public Order for 90 days. However, a review board, comprising judges of the high court, denied the government application to further extend the house arrest of Saeed.
The lawyer said action taken against Hafiz Saeed was based on the pressure of US and India. He added that these countries had been accusing him of the Mumbai attacks. He requested the court to stop the government from taking any illegal action against the JuD chief.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2018.
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