The Pakistan Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the government’s petition to stop operations of militant leader Hafiz Saeed’s organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawa, GeoNews reported. The organisation is believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The court allowed the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and a humanitarian organisation it runs, called the Falahi Insaniyat Foundation, to continue its relief and charity work in the country.
A bench of Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood rejected the Interior Ministry’s plea against the Lahore High Court’s interim order that allowed the organisation to continue its “welfare activities”.
The court rejected the government’s plea while citing that the matter was still being heard by the High Court. The ministry had said that the High Court’s order was making it difficult to comply with its international and legal obligations on the matter, The Express Tribune reported.
The militant leader welcomed the “victory of justice and truth”. Saeed reportedly asked the organisation’s employees to offer thanksgiving prayers. “We are grateful to Almighty Allah that it gave victory to the Jamat-ud-Dawa, which is serving humanity in all four provinces and Azad Kashmir,” Saeed was quoted as saying.
Saeed is believed to have masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 160 people were killed.
In June, the Election Commission of Pakistan had dismissed a plea of the Milli Muslim League, the political front of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, to register as a political party.
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