Lahore: Lahore High Court’s chief justice Wednesday changed a two-member bench which was hearing the petition of Mumbai attack mastermind and Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed challenging his arrest in the terror financing case.
Hafiz Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a 10 million bounty, was arrested July 17 in a terror financing case. He is lodged at the Kot Lakhpat jail here in high security.
“The LHC chief justice Wednesday transferred Saeed’s case from two-member bench comprising Justice Mazahir Ali Naqvi and Justice Mushtaq Ahmed to other two-member bench headed by Justice Mohammad Qasim Khan,” a court official told this agency. He said the transfer has been done as justice Khan’s bench is also hearing other terrorism related case.
In the last hearing August 27, justice Naqvi’s bench had sought reply from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police on the petition filed by Hafiz Saeed and 67 other leaders of Jammat-ud-Dawah and Falah-i-Insaniat in two weeks.
Hearing in this case was scheduled to for September 25 but since the bench was changed the dates have been deferred again.
The petitioners’ counsel AK Dogar said in the last hearing that Hafiz Saeed has no link with the Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist organisation. He also added that Saeed also has no connection with banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Saeed-led JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which was responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
PTI