Milli Yakjehti Council to launch agitation for Hafiz Saeed's release

Lahore [Pakistan], Feb. 9 (ANI): The Milli Yakjehti Council, a circle of around 25 religious parties and groups, has decided to launch a protest from Friday for the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and protection of Islamic laws in the country. The decision was taken on Wednesday in a meeting of the alliance's central executive council. It also decided to observe a week of protest, starting from Friday during which country-wide rallies would be taken out for the both causes, reports the Dawn. They also announced a rally on Sunday, from Nasser Bagh to the Punjab Assembly. The council demanded that Saeed should be set free, without delay and the government must apologise for detaining him. It also demanded release of all JuD workers, besides withdrawing cases against them. The council also warned against making any changes to blasphemy law and vowed to protect it in its present form at "every cost". By letting blasphemy suspects "off the hook", the government was itself fanning sectarianism, it said. The council decided to convene a media conference on the issue and protection of blasphemy law. Saeed, wanted by India and the United States for his alleged role in masterminding the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, and four other JuD members had been put under house arrest on January 30 for a period of three months invoking Section 11EEE of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. The names of Saeed and 37 other JuD and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) leaders have also been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) barring them from leaving the country. (ANI)