Review board adjourns hearing of extension in Hafiz Saeed, aides’ detention

LAHORE: The Federal Review Board (FRB) on Saturday adjourned till May 15 the hearing of an extension in the detention (house arrest) period of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and his four aides.

The board, headed by Supreme Court (SC) judge Ijaz Afzal, has also summoned the attorney general of Pakistan on the next date of hearing.

Saeed and his four aides were presented before the board, which held the proceedings at the SC Lahore registry.
The special home secretary requested the board to extend the detention on the basis that the release of the five men posed a threat to the country.

Saeed told the board that he had been cleared of terrorism charges by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2009.

On Thursday, the LHC had expressed its displeasure over the extension of their detention “without due process of law”.

Hearing a petition by Saeed and his companions who had challenged their 90-day detention and its subsequent extension on April 30 for another 90 days, an LHC division bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali had asked as to how the detention was extended without a review board’s approval.

Justice Ali remarked that according to Article 10(4) of the Constitution it was necessary to present the detainees before a review board which is the competent authority to decide whether to extend the detention or not.

The government had placed Saeed and his four aides under detention [house arrest] on January 30 for their activities to “harm peace and security”.

The JuD and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation were placed on the Second Schedule under Section 11-EEE(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The action had come after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the government was taking steps to fulfil its international obligations in connection with the JuD.

On April 30, the Punjab government had extended detention period for another 90 days.

The JuD chief and his aides had moved the LHC, challenging their house arrests and being added to the fourth schedule as well as the interior ministry putting the names of 37 of its leaders on the exit control list.

Source: The Express Tribune