Pak appeals in SC against JuD chief's release

Pakistan's federal government and the authorities of Punjab province on Saturday filed two petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the release from house arrest of outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, wanted by India for the Mumbai terror attacks.

Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group, was freed from detention on the orders of the
Lahore High Court on June 2 after spending nearly six months in detention.

The court had said the Pakistan government did not produce any evidence to link Saeed to Mumbai attacks.

Saeed and several of his close aides were detained in the wake of last year's Mumbai attacks after his organisation was declared a front for the LeT by the United Nations Security Council. They were all subsequently freed.

India had expressed concern at the delay by Pakistani authorities in appealing against the release of Saeed.