Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has asked Muslim men to 'make their women observe pardah' and criticised co-education, saying it is perverting the youth of Pakistan. Delivering the sermon during Friday prayers at the JuD's Jamia Masjid Al-Qadsia at Chowburji in Lahore, Saeed described the ban imposed by France and other European countries on wearing the 'hijab' and constructing minarets in mosques as a "conspiracy against Muslims."
Pakistani human rights activists on Thursday supported the decision by a special court in Mumbai to award the death sentence to Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested during the terror siege on Mumbai in November, 2008. Pakistani human rights activist Marvi Sarmad said, "The decision to hang Ajmal Kasab is a right one; he deserved it. I will say that is a right decision, which was decided after a genuine process. I am personally against capital punishment."
Pakistan's Supreme Court has indefinitely adjourned the petitions challenging the release from detention of Jamaat ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, accused by India of being the mastermind of the terror attack on Mumbai. The apex court's direction comes two days after India said there was 'enough evidence' to continue investigations against the JuD chief in connection with the terror attacks.
Jamaat ud-Dawa chief and Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed cannot be prosecuted for involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks without 'concrete evidence' against him, Pakistan's top law official said on Wednesday. "The government has the evidence provided by the United Nations Security Council that can only keep Saeed behind bars for a certain period of time under the Maintenance of Public Order law," said Attorney General Latif Khosa.
A Pakistani court on Thursday sought a "fresh and comprehensive" response from the foreign ministry to a petition by Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed asking it to direct the government to defend him in a United States lawsuit filed by relatives of victims of the 26/11 attacks.
The government of Pakistan's Punjab province has decided to disassociate itself from the case against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the suspected mastermind behind the terror attack on Mumbai, and filed a plea for its withdrawal.On Monday, the provincial government informed Pakistan's Supreme Court that it has challenged the release of Saeed due to certain 'confidential evidence' against him.
Dr Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and the highest-ranking Indian American in the Barack Obama administration, has set the record straight over conflicting reports that he had visited a relief camp run by a front organisation of Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Pakistan's Sindh province and handed over US aid.The JuD is headed by Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Tayiba and alleged mastermind of the horrific 26/11 terror attacks.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others, being tried in an anti-terror court for their involvement in the Mumbai attacks, were arrested by the Pakistani authorities with the 'sole purpose of pleasing' India, Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed has claimed."The truth is that the (Pakistan) government arrested various leaders who endorse Jihad in Kashmir and did so for the sole purpose of pleasing India," he said.
A Pakistani court on Tuesday asked the federal government to respond by March 29 to a petition filed by Hafiz Saeed, the chief of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba-linked Jamat ud Dawa, seeking legal aid to defend him in a lawsuit filed in a United States court by relatives of two Jewish victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The National Investigation Agency told a Delhi court on Tuesday that the complicity of Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and other five terror suspects was not confined to 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as they had conspired to plot such attacks in other parts of the country as well.
As Pakistan took exception to Home Secretary G K Pillai's recent remarks on Inter Services Intelligence's role in Mumbai attacks, India on Friday said that there is no acrimony between the two sides on the issue.
In the wake of reports of terrorist groups holding a rally in Pak-occupied-Kashmir, India slammed Pakistan on Thursday for allowing a congregation of banned terror outfits saying it amounted to giving a "license" to them to operate.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said India considers Taliban as a dreaded terror outfit, and wants Pakistan to take action against it along with other groups like Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
Khakan Babar, recently appointed by the government of Pakistan's Punjab province as the Chief Administrator, took over the JuD's Markaz-e-Taiba headquarters at Muridke, about 30 kms from Lahore.
Pakistan's Supreme Court, which is hearing petitions against the release from house arrest of Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, on Thursday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the federal and Punjab governments, for delaying the case with their 'non-cooperative attitude'. Saeed, the founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, has been accused by India of masterminding the terror attack on Mumbai.
India on Tuesday said Pakistan should do more in containing militancy as well as dismantling terror infrastructure in that country. "Frankly we have not seen enough action on either, though we acknowledge that the civilian government in Islamabad had apprehended seven persons in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks," Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for external affairs, said in New York.
Pakistan on Tuesday expressed disappointment over India's reaction to the Lahore high court quashing cases registered under the anti-terror law against 26/11 mastermind and Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed, saying that questioning decisions made by the country's independent judiciary was "not a wise step".
Disappointed at the Lahore high court's decision to scrap terror cases against Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, India on Monday said it would take up the issue with Pakistan, as it had earlier made to understand that formal investigation would be conducted against him.
India on Wednesday raised its concerns over millions of rupees allocated by Pakistan's Punjab province government to Jamat-ud-Dawa-led by Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafeez Saeed, saying New Delhi would "carefully" analyse the matter before taking it up with Islamabad.
Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik has said the government would not allow banned outfits and parties to take out any rallies or advertise themselves.
The Pakistani police on Wednesday said they were awaiting instructions from the government for taking further action against founder of Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, who was placed under house arrest after two cases were registered against him under an anti-terror law.
Jamaat-ud_Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, designated as a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, and other militant leaders detained by Pakistani authorities cannot be tried in the absence of solid evidence against them, Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said on Wednesday. The government had recently launched a crackdown against militant groups, including the JuD.
India has said that it is disappointed with the verdict passed by the Pakistan Supreme Court on 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.
A Pakistan-based conglomerate of militant groups active in Kashmir, headed by Syed Salahuddin, has temporarily dissolved itself with its leaders going underground in the wake of the crackdown on Jamaat-ud-Dawa and other banned terrorist outfits, a media report said on Saturday.The United Jehad Council -- which comprises Hizbul Mujahideen of Salahuddin, Harkat-ul-Ansar, Jamiat-ul- Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen -- has closed offices
With Interpol issuing Red Corner Notice against Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, India on Wednesday said the development vindicates its stand on his involvement in Mumbai terror attacks, and urged Pakistan to act on the basis of evidence collected 'painstakingly'.External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said the world should take note of the Interpol notice.
India handed over "additional information" on Mumbai attacks to Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik, who met Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao in New Delhi on Friday. During the meeting held following a request by Malik, additional information on the 26/11 terror attacks including inputs on some of the key aspects and accused involved was given by Rao.
Pakistan on Thursday said that the information provided so far by India on the Mumbai attacks was not enough for it to take legal action against outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. "It needs to be underlined that the dossiers and information received from India apropos Saeed are not really enough ... to proceed legally as is being expected," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told a weekly news briefing in Islamabad.
Unhappy over Pakistan's repeated claim about lack of evidence to prosecute Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, India on Wednesday said it should not ask any more questions as enough proof has been provided in the dossiers on Mumbai attacks. "They should not ask any more questions. Everything is contained in the dossier," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi when asked to comment on Pakistan's claim that it does not have evidence to prosecute Saeed.
The trial court hearing the 26/11 terror attack cases issued non-bailable warrants on Tuesday against 22 absconding accused, including Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafeez Saeed and head of operations of Lashkar-e-Toiba Zaki-ur-Rehman Laqvi.
Pakistani authorities are keeping a close watch on Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is allegedly the mastermind behind the terror attack on Mumbai, after a court ordered his release from detention three days ago. Personnel from the Prison Department were withdrawn from Saeed's residence in Johar Town in Lahore soon after the Lahore High Court released him from house arrest on Tuesday.However, the government of Punjab province has deployed policemen at his home.
"We are unhappy," said Home Minister P Chidambaram, reacting to Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed's release by a court in Pakistan.
Amid global concerns that terrorists may take advantage of the devastating floods in Pakistan, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), blamed by India for the Mumbai attacks, has claimed that it has received donations for the deluge-hit people from "hundreds" of British-Muslims. The JuD, which acts as a front for the Lashkar-e-Tayiba that carried out the 2008 strikes in Mumbai leaving 166 people dead, is said to have significant support in the UK, The Sunday Times reported.
The United Nations Security Council's sanctions committee has not received any petition from Pakistan-based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front for Lashkar-e-Tayiba, to reconsider the decision declaring it as a terrorist group, a top official said on Thursday. Reports from Pakistan had said that the JUD is appealing the decision but Coordinator of Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee Richard Barrett said no such petition has been received.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said a Pakistan court order quashing cases against Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed was a "big setback" to India's efforts to bring him to justice and "proof" that Pakistan does not want to act against those behind the attack.
India on Monday reacted strongly to the Lahore High Court's order to dispose of the anti-terror case against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind behind the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Saeed was booked by the Pakistani authorities for allegedly inciting people to wage 'jihad' (holy war) against 'infidels'.
Banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed has joined the debate over conditions attached to US aid to be provided to Pakistan, charging that clauses asking the country to take action against militant groups had been included due to "Indian pressure".
The Air India Office in Chennai has received a letter warning attacks by 'suicide bombers' and threats to disrupt the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) beginning in the city on Thursday, police said.
Special public prosecutor in the 26/11-terror attacks case, Ujjwal Nikam, on Friday demanded that the Pakistani court should conduct an open trial in the case, slated to begin there on Saturday.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
