Pakistan seeks house arrest extension of Jamat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed

Pakistan’s Punjab government seeks extension of detention of Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed under public safety law on Tuesday, two days after it had withdrawn its application to prolong his house arrest.

Jamat-ud-Dawah chief has been under house arrest since January. Earlier he was brought before a three-member provincial judge review board.

The Punjab Judicial Review Board comprising of Justice Yawar Ali, Justice Abdul Sami and Justice Alia Neelam heard arguments of a law officer of the Punjab Home Department.

Punjab Law Department had seeked detention of Saeed and four of his close aides — Malik Zafar, Abdullah Ubaid, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Hussain — as their house arrest ends on October 24.

According to Pakistan law, the government can detain a person for upto three months under different charges and can be extended by only if the judicial review board approves.

Saeed and his four associates were produced amid tight security. Lahore Police had made strict security measures around the Lahore High Court building at the time the five were produced.

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The board earlier had issued notices to the Advocate General Punjab and foreign and interior secretaries to appear before it on October 19 seeking explanation on why they wanted their house arrest.  

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Saeed and four others were detained by the Punjab government under prevantive detention under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 for 90 days.

The United Stated in 2014 had declared Saeed’s organisation Jamat-ud-Dawah as foreign terrorist organisation.

(With PTI inputs)