Extension of Hafiz Saeed`s house arrest: Pakistan judicial board to decide next week

Lahore: A Pakistani judicial board will decide on November 22 whether to extend JuD chief and the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's house arrest or not, a court was told on Friday.

A law officer of the Punjab provincial government during the hearing in Saeed?s house arrest case told Lahore High Court Judge Qazi Amin Ahmed that the Punjab Judicial Review Board would decide this matter on November 21.

The LHC held the hearing on a petition filed by Saeed challenging the October 24 order of the Punjab's Home Department to extend his detention for another one month under a public safety law.

The court in the last hearing had issued a notice to the provincial government seeking reply on Saeed's detention. Accepting the law officer's request the LHC adjourned the hearing for November 22.

Last month, the Punjab Judicial Review Board had extended by 30-days Saeed's detention which will expire by the last week of this month.

On January 31, Saeed and his four aides -- Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Hussain -- were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However, the last two extensions to his detention were made on the 'public safety law'.

The board refused to extend the detention of Saeed?s four aides. They were later set free in the last week of October.

Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but to extend the detention, it needs approval from a judicial review board.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the banned Lashkar- e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack.

The US has offered a USD 10 million bounty for Saaed for his alleged role in the Mumbai attack.