“An absolute lie and falsehood that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is a type of individuals who had been the darlings of People and had been eating and wining within the White Home,” Saeed’s lawyer, A.Okay. Dogar alleged, in response to media reviews.
The lawsuit calls on Asif to supply an apology inside two weeks or face punishment. Defamatory statements are punishable below the Pakistan Penal Code with as much as 5 years imprisonment and a wonderful, in response to Dogar.
Refuting latest allegations by america and BRICS, an financial bloc composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, that Pakistan harbors violent extremist teams that pose a risk to regional safety, Asif denied that his nation helps such teams.
‘Do not blame us for the Haqqanis [the Haqqani Network] and do not blame us for the Hafiz Saeeds. These individuals had been your darlings simply solely 20 to 30 years again. They had been being dined and wined within the White Home and now you say ‘go to hell Pakistanis since you are nurturing these individuals’,’ Asif mentioned, referring to the U.S. assist to Afghan resistance motion through the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan within the 1980s.
Saeed’s lawyer alleged that his shopper is a “patriotic Islam-loving Muslim” who refrains from consuming intoxicants, that are forbidden in Islam.
‘I’ve been suggested by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed to let you know that he has by no means been close to the White Home, to not communicate of [being] wined and dined. It’s surprising to know that the international minister of my nation is accusing Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of taking wine,” Dogar mentioned within the discover.
FILE – Pakistani International Minister Khawaja Asif briefs the media in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sep. 7, 2017.
Listed as terrorist by US
Saeed is a U.S.-designated world terrorist. He has been accused of orchestrating militant assaults in opposition to Indian pursuits within the area, together with the 2008 Mumbai assaults that killed 166 individuals, together with six People. The U.S. authorities has supplied a $10 million reward for info resulting in his arrest. He’s additionally on the U.N. blacklist. Saeed has been below home arrest in Pakistan for the previous a number of months.
Saeed leads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa group, or JUD, which has been listed as a sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Division for greater than a decade. JUD contends it’s a humanitarian group with out hyperlinks to terrorists, however it’s broadly thought-about a ‘entrance group’ for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which has been banned for terrorist actions since 2001.
‘Saeed, LeT, they’re a legal responsibility, I settle for it, however give us time to do away with them,’ Asif mentioned Tuesday in New York.
The transfer by Saeed’ lawyer drew some reactions of shock on social media.
“There’s irony, after which there’s irony. Undecided I can recall every other case of a terrorist suing for defamation,” Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst on the Woodrow Wilson Heart in Washington, tweeted.
“Hilarious. World terrorist Hafiz Saeed seeks harm to the tune of 100 million from Pak FM Khawaja Asif. Can Pakistan financial system afford it?” Indian journalist, Aditya Raj Kaul, tweeted.
Pakistani journalist, Naila Inayat, tweeted: “Ready for Hafiz Saeed to sue U.S. that designated him a terrorist, $10 million bounty might turn out to be useful in spite of everything.”
