Lahore, July 15: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore granted pre-arrest bail to Jamat ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Monday. According to reports, the bail was granted in a case related to illegal use of land for the outfit’s seminary. Three others accused Hafiz Masood, Ameer Hamza, and Malik Zafar were also granted bail by the court till August 31 against surety bonds of Rs 50,000 (PKR) each. Mumbai Attacks Mastermind Hafiz Saeed, His Aides to Be Arrested 'Very Soon': Police.

According to Pakistani daily Dawn News, during the hearing, Saeed’s counsel said that JuD was not using any piece of land illegally. Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court also issued notices to the federal government, the Punjab government and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) regarding a plea filed by the JuD chief and his aides. Jamaat-ud-Dawah's 'Child' Soldiers: Hafiz Saeed Preparing Army of Minors to Continue Jihad Against India.

In the plea, they challenged the charges of funding terror activities. Earlier on July 3, 23 FIRs were registered against Saeed and 12 other leaders of the banned terror organisation were for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 of Pakistan.

Saeed is the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. The JuD chief is a United Nations (UN)-designated global terrorist and is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba. The United Nations Security Council had banned JuD on December 10, 2008. He had also filed a plea in the UN for removing his name from the list of designated terrorists but his petition was rejected.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 15, 2019 05:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).