Pakistan court bars arrest of JuD chief

Lahore, Jan. 24: On the eve of a visit by the UNSC's sanctions monitoring team, the Lahore High Court restrained the government from arresting the Mumbai attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed till March 17.

The Jamaat- ud- Da- wah ( JuD) chief, who was listed under UN Security Council Reso- lution 1267 in Decem- ber 2008, had moved the court seeking protection from arrest or action against JuD and Falah- i- Insaniat Foundation ( FIF) ahead of the visit of the monitoring team of the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee.

The UN team will be visiting Islamabad on Thursday for an assessment of Pakistan’s compliance with the UN’s sanctions regime.

According to a media report, the Pakistan government will not allow the committee any direct access to Saeed or his entities.

In his plea, Saeed had said that the government wants to arrest him at the behest of the US and India, whose lobby has been trying to prove that he was “somehow involved in Mumbai attacks”.

Lahore High Court Justice Amin Aminuddin Khan heard Saeed's plea and refrained the government from taking any adverse action against him.

“The LHC today accepted JuD chief Saeed's application and issued order restraining the federal government from arresting him till further orders,” a court official confirmed to PTI.

He said the court also issued notice to the government to file its reply on March 17.