Saeed and aides presented before judicial review board

M Zulqernain

Lahore, May 5 (PTI) Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz
Mohammad Saeed and three of his close aides, held by Pakistani
authorities in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, were Tuesday
presented before a judicial review board for seeking an
extension of their detention which expires on May 9.

Saeed and the three other JuD leaders – Amir Hamza,
Col (retired) Nazir Ahmed and Mufti Abdur Rehman – were
brought to the Lahore High Court amidst tight security and
presented before the three-member review board.

The JuD chief and the other militant leaders were
placed under house arrest on December 12 last year under the
Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, which allows a person
to be held for up to 90 days.

After the expiry of this period, the judicial review
board extended their detention by another two months on March
9. This extension is set to end on May 9 and authorities have
decided to ask that they be held for some more time, official
sources said.

JuD is the frontal organisation of the LeT, blamed for
the Mumbai mayhem.

Saeed and the other JuD leaders have also filed a
petition in the Lahore High Court challenging their detention.
Following a request from the government counsel, the judge
hearing the petition Monday decided to ask the Chief Justice
of the High Court to constitute a larger bench to take up the
matter.

The government counsel said a larger bench should hear
the petition as the three-member judicial review board had
extended the detention of the JuD leaders.

Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry said he would ask the
Chief Justice to form the larger bench in two to three
days so that the matter could be disposed off quickly.

The government has informed the court that the JuD
leaders were detained after the UN Security Council designated
the group a terrorist organisation and imposed restrictions on
its leaders. PTI MZ
AM