Controversial movie: Govt issued notice on Hafiz Saeed’s petition

Hafiz Saeed has requested a ban on screening of an Indian movie


Our Correspondent August 13, 2015
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. PHOTO: AFP

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) directed the federal government on Thursday to file its reply to a petition filed by Jamatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed against the exhibition of an Indian movie.

On behalf of the government, a law officer appeared before the court on Thursday and requested more time to file the reply. Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan said that the reply should be filed by August 20.

In his petition, Saeed has stated that the Jamatud Dawa is a charitable organisation and having no link with Lashkar-i-Tayeba. “The organisation is working only for the welfare of people. We have established 142 schools and four universities in the country. We are educating the poor,” he said.

AK Dogar, his counsel, presented a CD containing a trailer of Indian movie Phantom in the court.

He said that Hafiz Saeed’s actual footage had been included in the movie. “In the movie, Saeed has been called the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. The lead actor says that if the US can kill Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan, why can’t we do the same?” Dogar told the court.

He said the movie contained a direct threat to the life of the petitioner and his associates. “If the film is exhibited in Pakistan, it will damage Saeed’s repute as he has been portrayed as a terrorist. Jamatud Dawa is not a proscribed organisation. Even the United Nations has issued a certificate that JD is doing charity work in Pakistan and outside the country,” he said.

Dogar said that the movie was scheduled to open in India and Pakistan on August 28. “It is necessary to ban and restrain it from being exhibited in Pakistan. Security of life is a fundamental right of the petitioner and his associates. Article 4 of the Constitution of Pakistan provides that every citizen of Pakistan can seek protection of law. No action detrimental to his life and reputation can be taken except in accordance with law,” he said.

He said it was the duty of the state to prevent any foreign country from threatening and terrifying its citizens.

He requested the court to direct the federal government to take action to stop the exhibition of the movie in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14th, 2015.

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