Hundreds of Jamaat-ud Dawa'h activists took out a protest rally on Friday to condemn US over $10 million head money on JuD Ameer Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and demanded of President Asif Ali Zardari to put off his planned visit to India. They were shouting slogans against USA and India, the JuD workers started their protest march from Chauburji Chowk after Friday prayers and terminated peacefully at the Lahore Press Club.
The banned Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and a key leader of 40 religious and political parties Defa-e-Pakistan Council Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, carried the black-and-white flags of the JuD. They said that US had announced a bounty for the JuD leaders as they were playing a key role in the DPC's efforts to prevent the reopening of Nato supply routes to Afghanistan.
Meanwhile the fundamentalist Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Pakistan has warned the government not to hand over Amir JuD Hafiz Mohammad Saeed to the United States or India as $10 million bounty on his head is an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty. Reacting to US pressure on Pakistan for putting Hafiz Saeed behind the bars, Amir MJAHP, Senator, Sajid Mir said the political and religious parties would take to the streets if the government tried to arrest or hand him over to the USA as he is not involved in any sort of terrorist activity.
"It would be very destructive for the national security if Saeed was arrested on frivolous charges to please India or USA", he added. Hafiz Saeed, a key leader of Pakistan Defence Council (PDC), has been rallying against resumption of Nato supplies for Afghanistan through Pakistan.
Sajid Mir said that Amir JuD is neither a non-state actor nor there is any proof of his involvement in the terrorist activities, therefore, any action against Hafiz Saeed the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), by the USA or India would be considered a direct act of belligerence against Pakistan.
"USA's allegations against the religious leader are the same which it had been levelling against Pakistan's national security agencies", he added. Senator Mir said a statement by the Foreign Office was not enough, therefore, the President and the Prime Minister must give a firm assurance to the nation that PDC leader would not be handed over to the USA or India.
It may be recalled that Pakistan's Foreign Office also said that the US allegations against Saeed and his aide are not enough to arrest them. "The US administration has to provide concrete and undeniable evidences against the JuD leaders," spokesman Abdul Basit told a press conference.
An undaunted Hafiz Saeed has said, "I have faced and I am ready to face charges against me in any court of law, not only in Pakistan, but any US court as well," Referring to the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court's judgements clearing him and his other aides of charges levelled by India over their involvement in Mumbai attacks, "I am available here any time. If the US authorities want to contact me, I am available, he added.