Lahore High Court restrains Pakistan govt from arresting Hafiz Saeed

A Pakistani court today ordered both the federal and the Punjab governments not to arrest or place under house arrest JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, until further orders.

Saeed had on January 23 moved the court seeking protection from his possible arrest or house arrest by the Federal and the state governments, under the alleged pressure from the US and India.

Lahore High Court Judge Ameenuddin Khan, who heard the case today, directed the federal and the Punjab governments not to arrest or put Saeed under house arrest till further orders, DawnNews reported.

The judge also expressed his displeasure over the failure of the federal and the state governments in filing their replies on Saeed's allegations. The court granted them time till April 4 to file their replies.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed, who is accused of having masterminded the November 2008 Mumbai attack, was placed on the terrorism black list by the United Nations in December 2008.

The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) head was released from the house arrest in November last year after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case. He was under house arrest since January last year.

Saeed had moved the court fearing action against him and his organisations -- Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) -- by the governments ahead of the visit of the monitoring team of the United Nations Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee.

The high-level UN team visited to review the progress made by Pakistan against groups and individuals banned by the UN.