Pakistan court tells government to 'not harass' Hafiz Saeed

The move comes days before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris, with rumours rife that Pakistan could be added to the grey list, under pressure from the United States of America and India. (Image: Reuters)

The Lahore High Court has asked the Pakistani government to "not harass" Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder and mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed and allow him to continue his "social welfare activities".

The banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief alleged in a petition that the government was interfering in his party's welfare projects coming under pressure from India and the US, news agency IANS reported. The petition, filed by Saeed’s lawyer AK Dogar, argued that barring an organisation or party from indulging in charity work was against the country's Constitution.

After hearing the petition, Justice Ameenud Din Khan directed the federal and provincial governments to respond by April 23.

On January 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan barred JuD and similar organisations listed as banned outfits by the UN Security Council from collecting donations in the country.

It was followed by the federal government and President Mamnoon Hussain amending the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997 and issued amended Anti-Terrorism Ordinance, 2018 to ban all groups sanctioned by the UN Security Council.

The court's move has come just three days after LeT's political front, the Milli Muslim League (MML), and the Tehreek-e-Azadi-e-Kashmir (TAJK), were designated as terror groups.