The government is finding it difficult to get hold of sufficient cogent evidence and material against outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed to present it before the Supreme Court, seeking his preventive detention. It was for this precise reason that official lawyers sought adjournment of the hearing at the Supreme Court of an appeal filed by the Punjab government against a decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) that released Saeed, a senior official told this correspondent. However, Attorney General Latif Khosa is optimistic of laying hand on concrete evidence to be laid before the apex court bench in the next few days. We will satisfy the court about the action against the JuD leader, he said. We are working in close cooperation with the Punjab government to collect the proof against Saeed. We have evidence against him, Khosa said adding that the provincial setup was fully on board on the question of confining the JuD chief. He said that the federal government has to implement the UN Security Council resolution and whatever action was taken against the Jehadis was in pursuance of it. He said Pakistan might be in trouble if it showed its inability to act as required under the resolution. The attorney general said that Saeeds preventive detention was in the interest of public order and security and this very fact was in the mind of the Punjab government when it had placed him in detention. The Punjab government recently declared before the Supreme Court bench that it did not have any tangible evidence to justify the JuD chiefs detention in future. It thus threw the ball in the court of federal government, asking it to provide proof to the apex court against him. However, other officials said that although the federal government was determined to keep Saeed under detention in any case to offset the adverse international reaction particularly emanating from India but was handicapped by the fact that it did not have any solid material against the Jehadi leader. India repeatedly expressed concern over the delay in challenging the LHC decision by the Pakistan government as it wanted Saeed to be behind bars in connection with the Mumbai terrorist attack in November last. These officials feared that any weak evidence furnished to the apex court against Saeed might not result in accepting the Punjab governments appeal against the LHC ruling. Saeed was detained along with several others immediately after the November attack in Mumbai following the passage of a resolution in the UN Security Council.
