Lahore: A Pakistani court has granted bail
to 11 Jamaat-ud-Dawah activists who had been in jail since the
UN Security Council declared the group a front for the
outlawed Lashker-e-Taiba in December last year.
The bail was granted to the JuD activists by a division
bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Chief Justice Khwaja
Muhammad Sharif yesterday. Deputy Prosecutor General Chaudhry
Jamshed opposed the bail, arguing that the JuD was a banned
organisation.
Jamshed said JuD activists had continued collecting
funds, distributing religious literature and other activities
despite the ban imposed by the federal government last year.
Irshadullah Chatha, the counsel for the JuD activists,
contended that there was no formal notification regarding the
ban on the organisation. No organisation could be banned until
a notification was issued, he said.
In an earlier case related to JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad
Saeed, the federal government too had admitted in the Lahore
High Court that it had no substantial evidence against the
organisation, Chatha said.
The JuD activists who were freed on bail include Abdul
Shakoor, Muhammad Hanif, Muhammad Siddiq, Abbas Dogar, Saeed
Amir, Arif Ali, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Iqbal, Master Abdul
Shakoor and Muhammad Anwar.
They were arrested from Bahawalnagar in Punjab province
under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, September 03, 2009, 16:16