Mumbai: Senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam on Wednesday termed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed’s arrest as a “drama” and said that Pakistan is “fooling the world”.
Saeed was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan’s Punjab province while he was on his way to Gujranwala from Lahore, Dunya News reported quoting sources. The 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind has been sent to judicial custody, it said.
“Pakistan is fooling the world that they have arrested him. We have to see how they produce evidence in courts and how efforts are made to convict him. Otherwise, it is a drama,” Nikam, the special public prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, told ANI.
Saeed’s arrest came two days after a Pakistan anti-terrorism court in Lahore had granted pre-arrest bail to the UN-designated terrorist in a case of illegal use of land for a seminary.
The court had granted interim bail to Saeed and three other accused until August 31 against surety bonds of Pak Rs 50,000 each, Dawn had reported.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court had issued notices to the federal government, the Punjab government and the CTD of Punjab province on a petition filed by Saeed and seven of his aides in terror financing cases.
Earlier this month, India had termed Pakistan’s action of charging Saeed as “cosmetic”.