A Pakistani court yesterday ordered the release of the founder of an Islamic militant group accused of having links to last year’s Mumbai attacks, his lawyer said.
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was detained and placed under house arrest in of Lahore weeks after New Delhi said the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group he founded was involved in the Nov. 26 attacks.
Saeed also heads the Islamic charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which was banned by the UN as a terrorist organization and a political front for the LeT in December.
His attorney, A.K. Dogar, said a three-member bench of the Lahore High Court had lifted the restrictions on his movement.
“The honorable judges ruled that his detention was illegal and unconstitutional and therefore Hafiz Saeed and his aides should be released,” Dogar told reporters outside the courtroom.
“Today’s order is a testimony to the fact that in this country sovereignty lies in Allah Almighty and the Holy Koran,” he said as JuD supporters raised slogans of “God is Great.”
Pakistani authorities have also closed the charity’s offices. However, the organization has resurfaced under a new name, the Falah-e-Insaniat, or Human Welfare, Foundation.
The foundation is running a massive relief operation for thousands of people displaced by the ongoing operation against Taliban in Swat and three neighboring districts.
“The verdict by a full bench of the court proves that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Jamaat-ud-Dawa have no connections with terrorism,” said Yahya Mujahid, a JuD spokesman.
Mujahid said the charity had not abandoned its welfare activities and never would.
“Service to humanity is an obligation for Muslims,” he said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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