Pakistan court gives Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed 'sound hiding' ahead of Eid

A Pakistani court has banned Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s party Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) from collecting sacrificial hides ahead of Eid-ul-Adha.

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Umar Atta Bandial dismissed, as withdrawn, a petition of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed challenging the restrictions imposed by the federal government on the petitioner’s activities, the Daily Times reports.

Earlier, the LHC CJ had sought a reply from the government on a similar ban on the JuD last year, saying the organisation had not been declared a banned outfit.

The federal government informed the LHC that it had banned the JuD from collecting sacrificial hides to keep up with the resolution of the Security Council of the United Nations against the JuD and 45 other organisations.

However, Hafiz Saeed claimed in his petition last year that his organisation had spent Rs150 million on the welfare of the poor across the country, and it had nothing to do with terrorism.

The petition submitted by the lawyer of JuD claimed that it had opened 142 schools for boys and girls all over the country, which were being run from funds contributed by citizens of the country and from sources, like sacrificial hides at the time of Eidul Azha.

If the government manages to implement its order, it is being speculated that the JuD may be deprived of collecting huge sums of money which it apparently spends on its ‘charity initiatives’.