LHC shifts cases against Hafiz Saeed to Lahore

The Lahore High Court Chief (LHC) has allowed shifting of the two terror-financing cases against Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) who mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and his four associates from Sahiwal to Lahore.

On Friday, LHC Chief Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh allowed an application filed by the JuD leaders after Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad Khan said the prosecution had no objection if the court transferred the cases, The News International reported.

Advocate Imran Fazal Gill submitted that two cases are pending against the petitioners before anti-terrorism courts of Sahiwal while some other identical cases are also being heard by a Lahore trial court.

He asked the court to order consolidation of all cases against the petitioners in Lahore as they involve similar charges and questions of law.

On February 12, Saeed was convicted in the two cases and sent to jail for five-and-a-half years.

Banned by the UN Security Council after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Saeed faces 23 terror cases in Pakistan alone.

Pakistan filed charges against him only after Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog for terror funding and money laundering put the country under 'grey list'.