LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday recorded statements of five prosecution witnesses in two cases of alleged terror financing against Jamatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his associate Prof Zafar Iqbal.

A legal panel of the organisation comprising advocates Naseerudin Nayar and Imran Fazal Gill cross examined the witnesses.

ATC-I Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta adjourned hearing till Friday (today) for further evidence by the prosecution.

Meanwhile, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) also produced the JuD leaders in ATC-II in another case. The other accused leaders in this case include Abdul Salam bin Muhammad, Abdul Rehman Makki, Muhammad Ashraf and Yahya Mujahid.

Presiding Judge Muhammad Iqbal adjourned hearing till Jan 9.

Strict security measures were taken in and outside the court premises before the appearance of the JuD leaders.

In these cases, the defence counsel had already taken a stance denying allegations against the JuD leaders as baseless and a result of international pressure on the Pakistan government.

He said the accused had been charged in false cases by wrongly attributing as leaders of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He claimed that the leaders had been arrested in light of the UN Security Council’s resolution No. 1267.

He said it was an admitted fact supported by superior courts’ decisions that the accused persons had already quit the LeT before the organisation was declared proscribed in 2002. The counsel alleged that the CTD registered the cases without any substantive evidence.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2020