US Suit: ‘No govt legal aid for Hafiz Saeed’
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Lahore High Court on Tuesday that it would only pay for the defence of the current and former Inter Services Intelligence chiefs, and not Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, in a civil suit filed in the United States by families of Americans killed in the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 2008.
Advocate AK Dogar, Saeed’s counsel, argued that this violated constitutional provisions for equal rights to all citizens. The state was constitutionally bound to protect its citizens “against baseless allegations levelled by another country,” he said.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial adjourned the hearing till October 12 and directed Dogar to submit his response in writing. The suit filed in a US civil court accuses Hafiz Saeed, the current ISI chief and his predecessor, and several others of aiding the Mumbai attackers
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2011.
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