'Terror chief' Hafiz Saeed's counsel says JuD a 'welfare organisation'

Hafiz Saeed's Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) is a welfare institution which has opened 142 schools for boys and girls all over Pakistan, counsel AK Dogar has told the Lahore High Court. Dogar maintained that the schools were being run exclusively from the funds contributed by the citizens of the country and by selling hides of sacrificial animals, reports the Daily Times.

The court was hearing a petition challenging the restrictions imposed by the government on the JuD chief''s activities - including collection of hides during Eidul Azha. Saeed had filed the petition on the eve of last Eidul Azha, challenging the ban imposed by the federal government on the activities of JuD in the light of a resolution passed by UN Security Council.

Dogar said that the ban was imposed in the light of a resolution passed by the UN Security Council, while the Saeed's organisation was not proscribed under any law of the land. Dogar further claimed that the ban was a clear violation of the petitioner''s fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

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