Hafiz Saeed's detention extended by another month

LAHORE: The detention of cleric Hafiz Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and has a $10 million US bounty on his head, has been extended for one month.

The Provincial Review Board (PRB) extended Saeed’s detention on Thursday while rejecting the request to further extend house arrest of his four aides. The four JuD leaders would be freed on Oct 26 when their detention period expires.

The order came following an in-camera hearing of the board headed by Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court (LHC). The board announced its decision to extend the JuD chief’s detention after hearing arguments of the counsel for the government and the JuD.

The police presented Saeed and his aides Qazi Kashif Niaz, Prof Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman and Abdullah Ubaid before the board amid tight security.

JuD, listed as a terror outfit by the United Nations, is considered by the US and India to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the militant group blamed for the attack on India’s financial capital which killed more than 160 people.

Earlier in January this year, Hafiz Saeed’s house was declared a sub-jail while JuD and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) added to interior ministry’s watch-list for six months and a notification has been issued in this regard.

“Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz are reportedly active members of the aforementioned organizations within the meaning of Section 11EEE(1) of the ATA 1997 (as amended). As such, they must be placed under preventive detention.” reads the notification the interior ministry had issued earlier in Jan.