Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed appeals by the federal and Punjab provincial governments against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed’s release from house arrest for want of evidence. He is thus a free man again and no longer subject to house arrest. This is a major setback to India’s efforts to nail him for involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, of which he is believed to have been the mastermind.
In New Delhi, the Indian government voiced its disappointment, saying that enough evidence had been given to Pakistan about Saeed’s activities and his role in the November 26, 2008 outrage. “There is a sense of disappointment. I am sure everybody in this country will share the same sense of disappointment on this development ... specially when we regard Hafiz Saeed as one of the masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks, and he has openly urged jihad against India,” said foreign secretary Nirupama Rao while speaking to journalists on Tuesday.
This comes ahead of home minister P. Chidambaram’s visit to Pakistan in June for the Saarc home ministers’ meeting, where Ms Rao will also be present.
Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, was put under house arrest in December 2008 following the Mumbai attacks after the UN Security Council declared that the JuD was a front for the LeT.
He was later freed after the Lahore high court ruled there was not enough evidence to keep him in custody. The two governments then filed an appeal following considerable pressure by India and the international community.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk rejected the appeals and upheld the June 2009 high court order. “The prosecution has failed to prove its case. We cannot usurp the right of freedom of a person on mere assumption,” the order read.