[Not] banned: LHC asks govt to explain JD hides ban

JD is a charity that has nothing to do with terrorism, says Hafiz Saeed.

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday asked the federal government to explain why, if Jamatud Dawa (JD) had not been banned as a terrorist group, it had been stopped from collecting animal hides on Eid last year.

Deputy Attorney General Azar Latif said JD had been stopped from collecting hides after the UN passed a resolution against it. He said 45 other groups were also stopped.

JD chief Hafiz Saeed told the court that his organisation had spent Rs15 million on social welfare last year. He said JD was a charity that had nothing to do with terrorism. It had never been banned, he added.

Saeed said that JD had been stopped from collecting animal hides a few days before Eid, leaving the group no time for legal remedy.

The federal government's reply to the petition on Wednesday came nearly a year after it was filed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2013.