Secretaries summoned in Hafiz Saeed case

LAHORE :A provincial review board led by Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court Tuesday sought personal appearance of secretaries of interior and foreign affairs and directed them to bring available incriminating material against Jamatud Dawa Chief Hafiz Saeed and his aides, facing detention for last 10 months.

At the outset of the hearing, law officer Abdul Sattar Sahil appeared on behalf of the Punjab Home Department and said the government detained him and his companions pursuant to United Nations Organisation's ban on Jamatud Dawa. He said his release might create law and order.

The counsel for Hafiz Saeed argued that the Punjab government had moved an application before the federal review board for detention of his clients. However, when the government felt that the federal review board was not satisfied with its stance it withdrew the application seeking extension in detention of Hafiz Saeed and his aides, he contended. 

The counsel strongly opposed his detention saying that fresh detention order was passed under Maintenance of Public order, 1960 which, he said, was purely based on mala fide intention and nothing else. The counsel also questioned the claim of the provincial law officer that the UN resolution was being implemented because the Supreme Court and Lahore High Court had given several judgments that Pakistan is a sovereign and independent state and local laws shall apply to its citizens. So far as the law and order is concerned, there is not even a single FIR against any member of Jamatud Dawa, the counsel argued.

The government so far could not present a single solid evidence against his clients who had been detained merely on the pressure of Indian and American lobbies, he said.