JuD affiliate challenges ban on collecting animal hides in Pak

Lahore: Ahead of Eid-ul Azha, an affiliate body of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud- Dawa has challenged a ban imposed on it by Pakistan's Punjab government on collection of sacrificial animals' hides.

Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), a JuD front, challenged the ban in Lahore High Court, following which the court issued a notice to the provincial government.

The FIF through A K Dogar, the counsel of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, challenged the ban yesterday ahead of Eid-ul Azha on September 25.

Dogar told the court that FIF is not a proscribed body but a registered non-government organisation (NGO).

"The foundation has been engaged in the welfare work and there is nothing on record to establish that the organisation was ever involved in any terrorist or anti-state activity," he said.

He informed the court that the Punjab Home Department has issued a list of banned outfits, and that the FIF has also been included in the list illegally.

Dogar said the government has banned the FIF from collecting hides of sacrificial animals. He pleaded the court to set aside the impugned ban for being unlawful.

Lahore High Court judge Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa directed the government to submit its reply by September 21.

Media reports estimate that around 10 million animals were sacrificed on Eid last year and their hides were worth Rs 35,000 million.

JuD uses FIF to raise money to fund its activities. Other groups involved in this business to generate funds include Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-E-Mohammad, Tehrik-e-Islam.

Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, is an accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. The US has placed a bounty of USD 10 million on him.