Pak yet to finalise appeal to challenge HC order freeing Saeed

The delay in approaching the Supreme Court appears to be due to differences on the issue between the federal and provincial governments, sources said.

Shortly after Lahore High Court freed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Saeed and a close aide on June 2, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and Pakistan's Attorney General Latif Khosa had said an appeal would be filed within "a matter of days".

Though the Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit had said an appeal would be filed by the government of Punjab province, the federal government and the provincial government appear to be waiting on who would take the initiative.

The federal government is distancing itself from an earlier plan to file a joint appeal with the provincial government, sources said.

"The federal government has asked Punjab to file an appeal on its own without involving it. The federal government wants its role to be confined to the appearance of the Attorney General during the hearing of the case," an officer of the Punjab government said.

Punjab's Advocate General Raza Farooq said he could file an appeal in the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court's order only if he was instructed to do so by the government. "I can't do it on my own," he said.

He said the time to file an appeal had not ended as the government had 60 days to do so from the day the High Court issued its verdict.

"We have ample time and will file the appeal after doing our homework," Farooq said.
Other officials said the restrictions imposed on JuD by UN Security Council – including a ban on travel and freezing the organisation's bank accounts – are being implemented.
Saeed and several of his aides were placed under house arrest in December last year in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. He was freed after he filed a petition challenging his detention in the High Court.

Meanwhile, United Jehad Council chairman Syed Salahuddin recently met Saeed at his office here. Salahuddin, who also heads the Hizbul Mujahideen, congratulated Saeed on his release and criticised Pakistan's rulers for their "weak stance" on the Kashmir issue.