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Hafiz Saeed ‘should not be released’: Punjab home ministry

LAHORE: The release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed from house arrest will create a situation of unrest in the province, Punjab home ministry told the Lahore High Court (LHC) in its written reply.

During the hearing of an appeal for the release of JuD chief, Hafiz Saeed’s counsel argued before a two-member bench that the house arrest was ‘illegal and baseless’.

He also urged LHC to discard the order of keeping JuD leader under house arrest.

“He [Saeed] was put under house arrest by the government of Punjab after the US threatened to cut Pakistan’s aid, it was done without any cases being registered against him,” the counsel said.

The home ministry, on the other hand, said that Saeed was put under house arrest under the anti-terrorism laws to keep him from collecting funds — which is a violation of various resolutions of the United Nations.

“Cases were also registered against his party [JuD] for collecting funds in contempt of the provincial ministry’s orders,” the ministry said in its reply to the court.

M M Alam

M. M. Alam is a Pakistan-based working journalist since 1981. Karachi University faculty gold medalist Alam began his career four decades ago by writing for Dawn, Pakistan’s highest circulating English daily. He has worked for region’s leading publications, global aviation periodicals including Rotors (of USA) and vetted New York Times as permanent employee of daily Express Tribune. Alam regularly covers international aviation and defense-related events including Salon Du Bourget (France), Farnborough (United Kingdom), Dubai (UAE). Alam has reported thousands of events and interviewed hundreds of people in Pakistan, UAE, EU, UK and USA. Being Francophone Alam also coordinates with a number of French publications.