The Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs informed the Lahore High Court that the Pakistan government would only defend the ISI Chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha in a civil lawsuit filed in a US federal court.
Jamaat-ul-Daawa spokesman Yahya Mujahid has condemned the Pakistani government’s decision of not defending the Lashkar-e-Toiba Founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed in a civil lawsuit filed in a US federal court.
The Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs informed the Lahore High Court that the Pakistan government would only defend the ISI Chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha in a civil lawsuit filed in a US federal court and won’t defend Hafiz Saeed, who has been named as a co-defendant in the suit.
Deputy Attorney-General Naseem Kashmiri told the Lahore High Court that since the ISI chief is a part of the state machinery, the government of Pakistan would provide him all necessary legal assistance. However, Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the LHC was quick to direct the counsel for Hafiz Mohammad Saeed to file his rejoinder to the foreign ministry’s reply by June 30.
The Brooklyn court has issued summons to JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, ISI chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha, and ISI officials Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali after a lawsuit was filed by relatives of American nationals killed in the Mumbai attacks. Through its lawyers, the government filed a response that the ISI and its officials enjoyed sovereign immunity from prosecution.
The suit was filed in November 2010 by the son of US nationals Rabbi Gabriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, who were killed in the Mumbai attacks. Apart from the ISI officials, the suit names the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), widely believed to be responsible for the attacks, as a defendant.
Hafiz Saeed, through his counsel AK Dogar, submitted a petition that he is the head of Jamaat-ud Dawa, a charitable organisation, and has no links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Hafiz Saeed says he was released by a full bench of the LHC after the Pakistan government detained him in 2009, proving that he is not linked to any terrorist organisation.
Saeed says as a citizen of Pakistan he should enjoy the same rights as any other individual. He asserts that the government should defend him in the same manner as the ISI chief and other officials.
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