A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday dismissed two cases of terrorism against chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), Hafiz Saeed. Saeed, in his petition, had challenged the cases slapped on him under anti-terrorism laws for making objectionable speeches and seeking contributions for his organisations.
The two-member bench, led by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, ruled that Hafiz had committed no crime by seeking funds for his organisation which is not banned by the government. Similarly, there was no incitement to violence in his speeches.
The court dismissed the cases after the Punjab government and the federal government submitted statements saying the JuD has not been banned or designated as a terrorist outfit.
Saeed’s counsel AK Dogar contended that the government has registered cases against Saeed under pressure from India which is unjustly involving him in last year’s Mumbai attacks without any substantive evidence.
Meanwhile, the defence lawyers of seven 26/11 suspects have protested against their indictment by an anti-terrorist court on Saturday. The single-member tribunal, headed by Judge Baqir Ali Rana, who is conducted trial in camera, had formally charged the seven accused in the absence of defence lawyers and adjourned the case for a week.
Khawaja Sultan, one of the defence lawyers, said he and his other colleagues were asked to leave the court because of the Rawalpindi terrorist attack that was underway at that time. Later, the judge read out charges against all seven accused and adjourned hearing till next Saturday.
He said the lawyers earlier gave their arguments for nearly three hours, contending that there was no concrete evidence against their clients. The prosecution, however, insisted that enough evidence was available to indict the accused.
