Pakistani authorities on Friday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the release from house arrest of banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, wanted by India in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

The appeal, filed by the Home Department of Punjab province, challenged the June 2 Lahore High Court order, saying there was evidence for the JuD’s links to terror outfits. The appeal noted that Saeed and his close aide Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed, who was freed with him, had been originally detained following a UN Security Council resolution that declared the JuD a terrorist organisation.

The Government appeal asked for an immediate detention of both Saeed and Ahmed, saying their remaining free could create a law and order situation. It also said the two men needed to be detained for their own “protection”.

“We hope the federal government will assist us with complete evidence against the JuD leaders,” Rana Sanaullah, law minister of Punjab, said, adding that the federal government would file a similar appeal “in a few days”.

Unlike in the past when evidence against Saeed and JuD was presented in-camera, the proof of their involvement in terrorist activities should this time be made public in order to strengthen the Government’s position, Sanaullah said.

He said the Punjab Government had prepared the appeal soon after the Lahore High Court’s decision to free Saeed, but had been waiting for Islamabad’s nod to proceed in the matter.

Saeed, also the founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, was freed by the Lahore High Court after he had spent nearly six months under house arrest. The court had said the Pakistan Government had failed to produce any evidence linking him to the Mumbai attacks.

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