A Pakistani court yesterday ordered the release of the founder of an Islamic militant group accused of having links to last year’s Mumbai attacks, his lawyer said.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was detained and placed under house arrest in of Lahore weeks after New Delhi said the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group he founded was involved in the Nov. 26 attacks.
Saeed also heads the Islamic charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which was banned by the UN as a terrorist organization and a political front for the LeT in December.
His attorney, A.K. Dogar, said a three-member bench of the Lahore High Court had lifted the restrictions on his movement.
“The honorable judges ruled that his detention was illegal and unconstitutional and therefore Hafiz Saeed and his aides should be released,” Dogar told reporters outside the courtroom.
“Today’s order is a testimony to the fact that in this country sovereignty lies in Allah Almighty and the Holy Koran,” he said as JuD supporters raised slogans of “God is Great.”
Pakistani authorities have also closed the charity’s offices. However, the organization has resurfaced under a new name, the Falah-e-Insaniat, or Human Welfare, Foundation.
The foundation is running a massive relief operation for thousands of people displaced by the ongoing operation against Taliban in Swat and three neighboring districts.
“The verdict by a full bench of the court proves that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Jamaat-ud-Dawa have no connections with terrorism,” said Yahya Mujahid, a JuD spokesman.
Mujahid said the charity had not abandoned its welfare activities and never would.
“Service to humanity is an obligation for Muslims,” he said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS