Hafiz Saeed detention case: Pakistan court defers verdict as judge was not available

Lahore: The Lahore High Court on Sunday deferred its verdict in the case against the detention of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed and his four aides for their involvement in activities prejudicial to the security of Pakistan. [caption id=“attachment_3203270” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Hafiz Saeed. AFP.[/caption] The verdict was deferred as the judge heading the division bench, Justice Abdul Sami Khan, was not available “as per the weekly roster,” a court official said. The date for the announcement of the verdict will be notified later. Early in June, the bench had said it would give its verdict on 19 June but deferred it for 3 July following a request from a law officer of the Punjab government. Saeed and his four aides — Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain — have been detained on the orders of the Pakistan government for their alleged involvement in activities prejudicial to peace and security, says the provincial Punjab government. The federal government had also submitted a report of the judicial review board on the detention of Saeed and his aides. Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, appeared before the board in May and told it he had been detained by the Pakistan government in order to “stop him for raising voice for Kashmiris”. Pakistan’s interior ministry rejected his arguments and told the board that “Saeed and his four aides have been detained for spreading terrorism in the name of jihad”. The Punjab government on 30 April extended the detention of Saeed and his four aides for 90 days under the 11 EEE (I) and 11D of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. They had been put under house arrest in Lahore under the Second Schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 on 30 January.