Pak's Top Court Allows Hafiz Saeed's Groups To Continue Their Activities

Pakistan's Supreme Court has allowed Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) to continue their activities in the country.

A two-member bench Wednesday rejected an appeal by the government against an interim order of the Lahore High Court on April 5 which had allowed the two groups to "continue their welfare work."

The high court had restrained the government from interfering with the "social work of the two groups" and also allowed their legal activities.

Earlier, the Pakistan government had banned companies and individuals from making donations to JuD, FIF, and other organisations on the UN Security Council sanctions list.

JuD chief Saeed termed the top court verdict as a "victory of justice and truth".

Officials said JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It has been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.