Pakistan bans two charities linked to 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed

Pakistan's Punjab government has launched a crackdown on seminaries and health facilities run by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed in Rawalpindi.

Following orders by the Pakistan government, the Rawalpindi administration took control of a seminary and four dispensaries run by JuD and its charity wing Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), the Dawn newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The seminary was handed over to the Auqaf Department, which controls the religious properties, while the dispensaries were given to the Health Department.

The action came after a high-level UN sanctions team visited Rawalpindi in January to review progress against groups and individuals banned by the UN.

The UNSC sanctions list includes the names of Al Qaeda, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, JuD, FIF and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

LeT men are patriotic, let them form a political party: Musharraf

Former Pakistan president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said he was ready to enter into an alliance with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) for Islamabad's 'safety and security'.

This statement has come almost a month after he claimed he was the biggest supporter of the two parties.

"They (LeT and JuD men) are patriotic people, they have laid their lives for Pakistan, who can object if they form a political party," ARY News quoted Musharraf, as saying.

So far the two parties have not approached him but if they desire to enter into an alliance with his party, he has no objection, he added.

He further said, "I am a liberal and a moderate but that doesn't mean that I detest religious elements, I am the biggest supporter of Lashkar-e-Taiba and I know that they too like me, the people from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD)."

Musharraf, a month back, had said he liked the global terrorist, JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, and had met him.

The former president added he was always in favour of terrorist action in Kashmir, and the LeT and the JuD were the biggest forces to take on the Indian Army in the state.

The US had strongly condemned the release of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed from house arrest and called for his immediate re-arrest and prosecution.
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'A serious blow' to India: Hafiz Saeed after Pak court orders his release

A Pakistan court on Wednesday ordered the release of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed, blamed for the horrific 2008 Mumbai terror attack, from house arrest that began in January this year.

A Judicial Review Board consisting of judges from the Lahore High Court rejected a plea from Punjab province to extend Saeed's detention after a senior Finance Ministry official failed to convince the board that his release would lead to diplomatic and other problems for Pakistan.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief will be freed on the midnight of November 24 after the expiry of the house arrest order. Saeed and his four aides had been under house arrest since January under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Following the decision, Saeed told media that an end to his detention was tantamount to the victory of truth and called the decision "a serious blow" to India's demands that he be kept in custody and punished for the 2008 massacre, Dawn online reported.

Following the decision, Saeed supporters chanted slogans and showered him with rose petals.

The court had warned the government last month that it would end Saeed's house arrest if enough evidence was not submitted against him.
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