Pak SC adjourns JuD chief's detention hearing

Pakistan's Supreme Court has indefinitely adjourned the petitions challenging the release from detention of Jamaat ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, accused by India of being the mastermind of the terror attack on Mumbai.

The apex court's direction comes two days after India said there was 'enough evidence' to continue investigations against the JuD chief in connection with the terror attacks. The hearing of two petitions filed by the Federal and Punjab governments has been adjourned indefinitely by the apex court, Saeed's counsel A K Dogar told reporters.

Sources said the move was apparently linked to the resignation on Sunday of Punjab's Advocate General Raza Farooq, who was representing the provincial government in the hearings. The provincial government sought time from the apex court to appoint a new advocate general and asked for the hearing to be adjourned, sources said.

On July 16, the apex court had adjourned the matter for two weeks, following a request from the Federal government that it should be given time to present fresh evidence against Saeed. Earlier, the Punjab government had threatened to withdraw from the case, saying the Federal government was not cooperating with it.

It decided to review its stance after Attorney General Latif Khosa intervened in the matter. However, Khosa and Interior Minister Rehman Malik have recently said that Saeed cannot be arrested or prosecuted without concrete evidence of his involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Saeed was placed under house arrest in December last year after the United Nations Security Council declared the JuD a front for the banned Lashker-e-Tayiba.

He was freed from detention on the orders of the Lahore High Court on June 2. Home Minister P Chidambaram had stated in New Delhi that India has provided 'enough evidence' against the JuD chief in the three dossiers it gave to Islamabad.

A fresh dossier of evidence on the Mumbai attacks was handed over by India to Pakistan, asking it to expedite the prosecution of Saeed. The dossier comprised a seven-page summary and 60 pages of annexures. It contained replies to queries posed by Pakistan with regard to the investigation and the legal process involved in the 26/11 attacks, which were carried out by the LeT.