Legal help to Hafiz Saeed would strengthen Indian allegations, Lahore HC told

Lahore: The Lahore High Court has been told by a senior law officer not to rule in favour of giving official legal assistance to Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed in a case filed against him in the United States, as doing so would strengthen the hand of the Indian Government.

Amicus Curie of the high court Advocate Ahmer Bilal Soofi argued that the state could interfere only when a citizen is arrested in a foreign country. The Daily Times quoted him, as saying that in cases like the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Pakistan Government had no role to play. Soofi was further quoted, as saying that the United Nations had unanimously passed a resolution against terrorism, and Pakistan being a member country was bound to implement its resolutions. He informed the high court that India had filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court to establish Pakistan`s link with al Qaeda, and therefore, warned that providing legal assistance to Hafiz Saeed at the government level would strengthen New Delhi`s allegations of Pakistan being a state sponsor of terrorism. The high court`s Chief Justice, Umar Ata Bandial, then postponed the hearing of the petition moved by Hafiz Saeed to April 29. Saeed has appealed to the high court to direct the federal government to defend him in a U.S. court which issued summons to him, former ISI chiefs and other officials on a lawsuit filed by the relatives of US nationals killed in Mumbai attacks. (ANI)