Pakistan court extends Hafiz's remand by 14 days

Islamabad, July 24 (IANS) A court in Pakistan Punjab province's Gujranwala city on Wednesday extended the judicial remand of Mumbai terror attack mastermind and proscribed Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed by 14 days.

Special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge Syed Ali Imran ordered the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) to complete its investigation and present a formal challan in court on August 7. The court said that Saeed should also be presented in court on August 7, Dawn newspaper reported.

Following his arrest on July 17, Saeed was sent to jail on a seven-day judicial remand. He had been arrested in connection with a terrorism financing case while on his way from Lahore to Gujranwala.

On July 3, the top 13 leaders of the banned JuD, including Saeed and his brother-in-law Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The CTD, which registered the cases in five cities of Punjab, declared that the JuD was financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations and trusts, including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust, etc.

These non-profit organisations were banned in April as the CTD during detailed investigations found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership, accused of financing terrorism from the collected funds in Pakistan.