The police in Lahore have confined Hafiz Saeed, founder-leader of the Jamat-ud-Dawa/Laskhar-e-Taiba, to his house, but not arrested or detained him, his lawyer said on Monday.
Saeed, against whom two cases were registered last week under the Anti-Terrorism Act, was prevented from leaving his house to lead the Eid prayers at the Gaddafi stadium, his lawyer A.K. Dogar said.
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“Since last night, my client has been restrained from moving out of his house temporarily. But no warrant for his arrest or house arrest has yet been served on him,” he told
It was not clear whether the restraints on Mr. Saeed were connected to the two FIRs filed against him in Faisalabad last week under the Act.
The lawyer said Saeed was told by the police that he was being confined to his home “for reasons of his own security.”
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Petition framed
Mr. Dogar said he had framed a petition for quashing the cases against Saeed. He plans to file it in the Lahore High Court later this week, when the court reopens after the Eid break.
According to him, the cases held no water, as Section 11 F (4) of the Act, which has been invoked in both the FIRs, was applicable only if the organisation was proscribed, and the Jamat-ud-Dawa was not proscribed.
Section 11 F (4) says: “A person commits an offence [under the Act], if he addresses a meeting or delivers a sermon to a religious gathering, by any means — whether verbal, written, electronic, digital or otherwise — and the purpose of his address or sermon is to encourage support for a proscribed organisation or to further its activities.”
“No notification”
Mr. Dogar said that only last month some Jamat-ud-Dawa activists were ordered to be released by the High Court on the very same ground. A two-judge Bench asked Punjab’s Deputy Advocate-General to produce the notification that the JuD was proscribed. “He was unable to produce it, because there is no notification.”