26/11 accused in Pak move court for freedom

Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed, who was put under house arrest by Pakistan government after his outfit was blamed for the Mumbai attacks, has challenged his detention in the Lahore High Court, along with three of his associates.

A petition filed by Saeed and his aides Amir Hamza, Col (retired) Nazir Ahmed and Mufti Abdur Rehman in the Lahore High Court said they should be produced before the court so that it could see that they had been detained unlawfully.

On March 9, a judicial review board of the high court had extended by two months the house arrest of Saeed and his three aides.

Saeed is the chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawaah, which is a front organisation for the LeT.

All four men had been detained by Pakistani authorities in the wake of last year's terror attacks in Mumbai. The house arrest of the four men was extended on the request of the home department of Punjab province.

A K Dogar, the counsel for the four JuD leaders, told the court last week that Saeed was earlier detained by the government of former President Pervez Musharraf but was released by the Lahore High Court, which observed that there was no allegation on record against him or his organisation.

Dogar said High Court had also observed that the Jamaat-ud-Dawah had never been involved in terrorist activity in Pakistan and no FIR had been registered against it or any of the persons under house arrest.

Dogar claimed the Jamaat-ud-Dawah was an independent organisation that had no connection with the LeT.

Saeed and the other militant leaders were placed under house arrest on December 12 last year under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, which allows a person to be held for up to 90 days. Authorities sought an extension in their house arrest in March.