Verdicts in 2 cases against Hafiz Saeed on Tuesday

Lahore, Feb 11 (IANS) An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore is expected to announce its verdict in two cases of alleged terror financing against Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) who mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, and his associated on Tuesday.

As the ATC takes up the terror financing cases against the JuD chief around noon, the court will also record the testimonies in other cases against him, reports Dawn news.

Saeed is nominated in about 29 cases pertaining to terror financing, money laundering as well as illegal land grabbing. The verdict was reserved against him in two cases on February 6.

On February 8, the ATC delayed announcing its verdict in the terror financing cases and had decided to hear arguments on February 11 (Tuesday) on the application to hear all cases first before announcing the verdict.

The application, filed by the suspects' counsel, demands that collective verdicts be issued after the completion of trials in all the cases pending against them.

The terror financing cases were filed by the Counter-Terrorism Department's (CTD) Lahore and Gujranwala chapters. The case filed by CTD's Gujranwala chapter was initially being heard in a Gujranwala ATC but was shifted to Lahore on the directions of the Lahore High Court.

During the trial of both cases, the court recorded the statements of 23 witnesses.

The JuD chief was arrested by CTD in July last year, while he was travelling from Lahore to Gujranwala, said Dawn news.

Prior to his arrest, 23 first information reports had been registered against JuD leaders at CTD police stations of Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad and Sargodha in July 2019.

According to the CTD, JuD was financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations and trusts including. These non-profit organisations were banned in April last year as the CTD, during detailed investigations, found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership.

The crackdown on JuD last year followed a warning by Paris-based Financial Action Task Force to Pakistan to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing and money laundering.