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Bloomberg
A Pakistan High Court ordered the release of Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in a further blow for Pakistan and Indian relations.
Saeed, who was present in court amid tight security, is scheduled to be released on Thursday from house arrest after a three-judge panel in Lahore rejected a plea from Pakistan’s government for a month extension, his spokesman Habibullah Qamar said. Despite the US and India accusing Saeed of planning the assault on Mumbai, he has consistently denied any involvement.
Saeed’s detention in Lahore since January was initially interpreted as an attempt to placate the US, which has recently taken a harsher tone on Pakistan since the election of President Donald Trump and has accused it of continuing to harbour terrorist outfits.
Saeed has never been charged despite being detained multiple times in
Pakistan. Saeed heads Islamic charity
Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
“It’s a unanimous decision that indicates the detention was baseless and illegal,†Qamar from Lahore.
The release of Saeed suggests Pakistan’s military is once again asserting control over the country’s civilian authorities and that terrorism suspects will not be genuinely prosecuted by Islamabad, said Harsh Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London.