An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on December 11 indicted Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and other party leaders who were booked in July in multiple cases pertaining to alleged terror financing and money laundering, reports Pakistan Today. Saeed, along with the other accomplices, was presented before the court under strict security protocol. After filing charges, the court summoned the prosecution’s witnesses. ATC-I Judge Malik Arshad Bhutta, who heard the case, adjourned proceedings until December 12 (Today).
Earlier on December 8, the court had delayed the indictment owing to the unavailability of one of the suspects in a case registered by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on charges of terror financing. On July 3, top JuD leadership was booked in nearly two dozen cases pertaining to terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.
However, the JuD leadership denied the allegations as being baseless and a result of international pressure on the Pakistan Government. They claimed that they have been charged in cases by wrongly attributing them as leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). 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 earlier in April as the CTD, during detailed investigations, found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership.