Pakistan government on Wednesday asked Supreme Court to adjourn for a week the hearing of petitions against the release of JuD chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed, a key accused in the Mumbai attacks, even as Punjab province's move to withdraw its plea was stalled due to federal intervention.
The request for adjournment was made by Attorney General Latif Khosa, the federal government's senior-most legal official. Khosa told the court that he would not be available to appear before it tomorrow, the scheduled date for the next hearing of the case.
Khosa said an application for adjournment had also been submitted to the apex court's office.
A full bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry observed that the case would be adjourned tomorrow after examining the application for adjournment.
The federal and Punjab governments have filed separate petitions challenging the Lahore High Court's order that released Saeed and his close aide Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed from house arrest on June 2.
The Punjab government's counsel on Tuesday informed the apex court that it wanted to withdraw its petition. However, the move was stalled after Khosa intervened.
Punjab's move came ahead of a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan on the margins of the NAM summit in Egypt on Thursday during which they are expected to review the progress made by Islamabad to bring to book perpetrators of Mumbai attacks.
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