The Supreme Court of Pakistan has allowed alleged Mumbai 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its humanitarian arm Falahi Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) to continue their relief and charity operations in the country.
The verdict was issued by a two-member SC bench including Justice Manzoor Ahmed and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood as they rejected the federal government’s appeal against the Lahore High Court’s verdict, Geo News reported.
Reportedly, the JuD’s network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house, and ambulance services. The JuD and FIF alone have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers, according to two counter-terrorism officials, cited Geo News.
Earlier, the Pakistan government had banned companies and individuals from making donations to JuD, FIF, and other organizations on the UN Security Council sanctions list.
The UNSC sanctions list includes the names of terror organizations such as al-Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, JuD, FiF, Lashkar-e-Taiba and other organizations and individuals.
US state department has also designated Hafiz Saeed as an SDGT (Specially Designated Global Terrorist).
“We are grateful to Almighty Allah that it gave victory to the Jamatud Dawa, which is serving humanity,” Geo News quoted Hafiz Saeed as he reacted following the verdict of the Supreme Court.