Hafiz Saeed sends Pak foreign minister defamation notice
LAHORE: Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has slapped a Rs 100 million defamation notice on Pakistan foreign minister Khawaja Asif for calling him the “darling of the United States”.
Asif, speaking at the Asia Society forum in New York on Tuesday, had said Saeed, the Haqqanis and the Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) are “liabilities” for the country but it does not have the required “assets” to get rid of them.
The minister had also said the US, which was putting pressure on Pakistan to tackle terrorist groups operating from its soil, used to treat them as “darlings” just 20 to 30 years back and were being “dined and wined in the White House”.
Saeed’s counsel AK Dogar sent the notice to the foreign minister.
“Saeed is respected as a deeply religious and devout Muslim. Saeed has never been near the White House, not to speak of wined and dined,” Dogar said in the notice.
“It is shocking to know that the foreign minister of my country is accusing Hafiz Mohammad Saeed of taking wine. This is abusive language and can never be used about my client.
“He is a patriotic Islam-loving Muslim following the dictates of the Prophet. This is a defamatory statement punishable under Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code to five years imprisonment and with a fine,” he said. PTI