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| India-Pakistan |
| Has Hafiz Saeed been... disappeared? |
| 2002-08-01 |
| Both the federal government and the Punjab government have submitted written statements before the Lahore High Court that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned outfit of Kashmiri mujahideen, was neither arrested by the government nor is detained by the government agencies. Whoa! Isn't this interesting? The founder and still de-facto leader of one of the most dangerous jihadi groups in the world was "arrested" two and a half months ago and "held incommunicado." The little woman and the kiddies start getting nervous eventually and holler to the courts to have the old man produced — and the gummint says it knows nothing... The written statements by Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan Sher Zaman and Advocate General Punjab Maqbool Elahi Malik have created enormous confusion about the whereabouts of Hafiz Saeed as according to the initial reports published by the national and international media he was arrested from his house on May 15, 2002. "Nope. We ain't got him. Looked everywhere." Objecting the statements by the legal counsels of the federal and provincial governments, Nazir Ahmed Ghazi, counsel of the family of Hafiz Saeed who have challenged the prolonged detention of the prominent religious leader, presented copies of the newspaper clippings quoting a provincial minister of Punjab that Hafiz Saeed was safe and secure in the custody of the government. "Yeah, you do. It sez so right here!" The counsel for the petitioner also submitted before the court that a government official picks medicine and clothes for Hafiz Saeed once or twice a week from his house. It shows that the government agencies know where he is and where he has been detained, the petitioners counsel said. "They got his toothbrush and everything, yer honor!" Markaz Dawah Wal Arshad, the research and education organization They're talking about the "legit" front organization for Lashkar... also founded and headed by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has announced that it would launch a country-wide movement against the state-terrorism which has been exposed after the extra-judicial detention of Hafiz Saeed. It may be mentioned here that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is one of those who feature on a list of wanted persons which was sent to Islamabad by New Delhi for handing over to Indian government as a precondition for easing the military stand off between Pakistan and India. They're suggesting the Paks snatched him and turned him over to the Heathen Hindoos... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |