Is Hafiz Saeed's 'house arrest' an eyewash?

M Zulqernain

Lahore, Oct 4 (PTI) Banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed's "house arrest" appears to be an
eye-wash as he is free to go where he wants and has been
delivering sermons at Friday prayers and interacting with
religious leaders.

Saeed, mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks,
delivered the sermon at Friday prayers at the organisation's
mosque at Chowburji here last week, despite the Lahore police
chief's contention that the JuD chief was "house arrest".

Saeed, also the founder of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT),
interacted freely with several religious leaders during the
prayers.

"There is no legal order for Saeed's detention and so
there has been no restriction on his movements," Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP) (Lahore) Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmed
told PTI.

"We have not yet received any direction from the
higher-ups to detain him (Saeed). There were only instructions
last month not to allow him to offer Eid prayers at a
particular mosque and that was only due to security reasons."

Police had only enhanced Saeed's security, he said.

His comments come nearly a fortnight after Pakistan's
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Saeed was "in custody"
of Pakistani authorities.

The drama of Saeed's detention was played out after
police in Faisalabad city registered two First Information
Reports (FIRs) against the JuD chief and one of his close
aides – Abu Jandal – under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 for
inciting people to wage jehad or holy war against infidels.
(More) PTI MZ
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