The Lahore High Court on Monday allowed that a terrorism financing case against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), be shifted from a Gujranwala anti-terrorism court (ATC) to one in Lahore.

LHC Chief Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed heard a petition filed by Saeed in which he said that he was being kept in a jail in Lahore but was transported to Gujranwala for every appearance before the court.

He said that in light of the security situation, appearing before the Gujranwala court was not fitting and added that if he was being held in a jail in Lahore, the case should also be shifted there.

During the proceedings, a lawyer for the government said that they had no objection to shifting the case.

Issuing the order, the LHC chief justice wrapped up the petition.

In July, Saeed was arrested in connection with the terrorism financing case while on his way from Lahore to Gujranwala. Prior to his arrest, the top 13 leaders of JuD, including Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Last week, the sanctions committee of the United Nations Security Council had allowed Pakistan to let Saeed, a UN-designated global terrorist, use his bank account for personal expenses. Pakistan had frozen his bank accounts in compliance with a UNSC resolution seeking such a ban.