Pak SC dismisses govt appeals against Saeed's release

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed appeals filed by authorities challenging the release of JuD chief Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, blamed by India for masterminding the Mumbai attacks, from house arrest.

The appeals against the Lahore High Court's order to release Saeed were filed by the federal and Punjab governments last year but could not be taken up earlier for various technical reasons. When the matter came up for hearing today, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk dismissed the appeals. Further details were not immediately available.

Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), was put under house arrest in December 2008 in the wake of the Mumbai attacks after the UN Security Council declared the JuD a front for the LeT. The JuD chief challenged his detention in the Lahore High Court.

Saeed was freed on June 2 last year by a three-judge bench of the High Court that said that Punjab and federal governments had failed to provide sufficient evidence to keep him in custody.

Following pressure from India and the international community, the federal and Punjab governments challenged the High Court's ruling in the apex court. Differences between the federal and Punjab governments and the change of certain legal officials of Punjab province held up the matter in the apex court.

Pakistani leaders like Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi have contended that India has not provided any evidence that will allow authorities to act against Saeed.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has maintained that India has provided sufficient evidence against Saeed in several dossiers handed over to Pakistani authorities.