Pak yet to challenge HC's order on Saeed

In spite of repeated announcements that they intend to challenge the setting free of JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, linked to the Mumbai terror attack, the Pakistani authorities are yet to finalise a proposed appeal against the High Court order.

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-Dawa 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.