Pakistan court: Free alleged Mumbai-linked cleric

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-02 20:18

Supporters of Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, chief of an Islamic charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, chant slogans to celebrate the Lahore High Court's decision to release the hard-line Islamist cleric, in Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. [Agencies]

India's Foreign Ministry issued a statement that Saeed's "professed ideology and public statements leave no doubt as to his terrorist inclinations."

Saeed, who remained in his home near Lahore immediately after the decision, told Pakistan's Geo news channel by telephone that the case against him was an "international conspiracy" and said the ruling supported his contention that Jamat-ud-Dawa is not a terrorist organization.

Since the crackdown after the Mumbai attacks, Jamaat-ud-Dawa is believed to have taken another name -- Falah-i-Insaniat -- and its workers have been helping Pakistanis displaced by the Swat operation.

Other suspected leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba -- including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah, whom India claims planned the Mumbai attacks -- remain in custody. They are facing trial at a court inside a high-security prison near the capital, Islamabad, according to three prison officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

The court proceedings are not open to the public, and it is not clear what charges they face or whether the trial has begun.

Earlier Tuesday, security forces rescued 80 students, teachers and staff from a boys' school who had been taken captive by militants the night before in the North Waziristan tribal region near Afghanistan, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.

The region is a major al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold from which militants are thought to launch attacks inside Afghanistan as well. Abbas said a string of violence in the region in recent days is an effort by Taliban to divert the military's attention from the battle in Swat.

Recent clashes have fueled speculation the military may widen its Swat offensive to South Waziristan.

Journalists have limited access to the tribal areas and Swat, making it difficult to independently verify information from the Pakistani military or other sources.

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