Lahore HC says no proof to link Saeed with 26/11

Pakistani authorities did not produce any evidence to link Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed to the Mumbai terror attacks, the Lahore High Court said in its detailed judgment on Saturday, days after Saeed was set free by the court.

"The attorney general contended that the petitioners are being blamed to be involved in Mumbai attacks; we have observed that not a single document has been brought on record that the petitioners are involved in it," the court ruled.

A three-member full bench of court on Saturday maintained in its detailed verdict that "no documentary or any other evidence" was produced against the detention of Saeed and others.

The court, in its 29-page verdict, observed the detainees were not informed regarding reasons of their detention within the period of three months which was a legal requirement.

Saeed, allegedly linked to last year's Mumbai terror attacks, was set free on Tuesday by the Lahore High Court, triggering an angry response from India which accused Pakistan of not being serious about fighting terror.

Fifty nine-year-old Saeed, who has been under house arrest since December 11, was ordered to be released by the High Court which held his detention as illegal. A close aide of Saeed, Colonel (retd) Nazir Mohammad, also held in connection with the November 26 attacks in Mumbai, was freed along with the JuD chief by the High Court.

According to the detailed judgment, Pakistan's attorney general and advocate general made verbal request for in camera proceedings as they wanted to produce some "secret" material to be in possession of the government against the petitioners.

"The said documents are mostly reports of intelligence agencies. The first report is dated 6-4-2009 and the document shows that in order to cover up lacuna the report has been obtained after four months of the detention of the petitioners and it is found incorrect as nothing happened which was apprehended in the report," the court said.

According to the judgment, "The second report is dated 21.4.2009". "If this report is correct, why any action was not taken against the responsible persons and even otherwise this report was prepared during the period when the petitioners had already been detained, who can not be held responsible for any apprehension about any action on the part of the JuD," it said.

The court further observed that review board has no judicial status and its decision was only an opinion because retired judges can be appointed its members.

Record exhibited was made in May 2009 while they were detained in December 2008, the bench held. The court finally held that the detainees cannot be detained on the grounds of material and record produced in the court.

"As far as the allegation in UN Resolution that Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ud-Din had links with Al-Qaida, we have found that in the earlier judgment reported in Memoona Saeed vs Government of Punjab (PLD-2007 Lahore-128) it was observed that there was no evidence against JuD for its links with Al-Qaida," the bench remarked.

Perusing a report of intelligence agencies, the Lahore Court further said that this report was without any supporting evidence even there was no credibility attached to the said reports.

Moreover, there was nothing on the record so far that this organisation had any links with Al-Qaida and it seemed to be only a bald allegation, which was never considered by the detaining authority, the judges said in detailed judgment.

The judges also wrote that Security Laws and Anti Terrorism Laws of Pakistan were silent about the fact that Al-Qaida was a terrorist organisation.

"Even after the perusal of the said documents we do not find any material declaring that the detention was necessary for the security of the petitioners and there was no evidence that the petitioners had any links with Al-Qaida or any terrorist movement which could endanger the security of Pakistan except for the bald allegations being leveled by the Indian lobby that they are involved in Mumbai attacks, but there is no such evidence or even any linkage borne out from the said documents against the petitioners," the full bench held.

It said there is also no such evidence declaring that the petitioners are involved in "anti-state activities and security risk".

About the legality of detention orders issued against the petitioners, the bench observed that according to Article 10 (5) of the Constitution it was mandatory upon the detaining authority to provide grounds of detention on which the order had been made within 15 days, but the detaining authority made clear violation of express provisions of the Constitution, which deprived the petitioners to assail their detention before the competent forum and also to know the allegations against them.