Hafiz Saeed should be prosecuted to 'fullest extent of law': US

Agencies
January 19, 2018

Washington, Jan 19: A day after Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that no action could be taken against Hafiz Saeed as there is no case against him, the United States Administration has called for the prosecution of the UN-designated terrorist "to the fullest extent of the law".

Reacting strongly to Pakistan PM's remarks, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, ''The US believes that Hafiz Saeed should be prosecuted and Pakistan has been told about it.''

"We believe that he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He is listed by the UNSC 1267, the al-Qaida Sanctions Committee for targeted sanctions due to his affiliation with Lashkar-e-Toiba, which is a designated foreign terror organisation," Nauert said in her daily news conference on Thursday.

"We have made our points and concerns to the Pakistani government very clear. We believe that this individual should be prosecuted," Nauert said.

Speaking to Pakistan's leading Geo TV on Tuesday, Abbasi also referred to Hafiz Saeed as 'sahib' or 'sir'.

"There is no case against Hafiz Saeed 'sahib' in Pakistan. Only when there is a case can there be action," Abbasi said when asked why there was no action against him.

Responding to a question on the JuD chief, Nauert further said the US has "certainly seen" the reports about Abbasi's comment on Hafiz Saeed.

"We regard him as a terrorist, a part of a foreign terrorist organisation. He was the mastermind, we believe, of the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed many people, including Americans as well," she added.

Saeed, who heads terrorist outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November.

The US has labelled JuD the "terrorist front" for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a group Saeed founded in 1987. LeT was responsible for carrying the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.

Acknowledging that the US has had some challenging times with the government of Pakistan recently, Nauert said the Trump Administration expects Pakistan to do a lot more to address terrorism issues.

"That's something that we've been very clear about all along. You know the news that we had that came out a couple weeks ago about our decision to withhold some of the security funding for Pakistan," she said.

Nauert said the entire administration is on the same page on the issue of US-Pakistan relationship.

Early this month, the US suspended about USD 2 billion worth of security assistance to Pakistan accusing it of not doing enough in the fight against terrorism.

In retaliation, Pakistan suspended military and intelligence co-operation with the US.

The State Department yesterday said it has not received any formal information in this regard from Pakistan.

Meanwhile, former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai yesterday called out on Pakistan Prime Minister's bluff that there is no case against 2008 Mumbai mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

“Oh! There is plenty of evidence. Everyone knows that,” said Karzai.

The former Afghan president said this while attending the 2018 Raisina Dialogue in the national capital.

Saeed has been grabbing headlines often since his release from house arrest in November. He was placed under the same in January 2017.

A Pakistani Urdu newspaper ‘Khabrain’ recently sparked a row with its new year calendar.

The calendar has become a talking point as it carries a photograph of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and 2008 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

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News Network
May 10,2024

Mangaluru: A teenage boy from a remote village in Dakshina Kannada district, who was undergoing treatment for stomach pain for past few days, breathed his last after hospitalization. 

The deceased has been identified as Nithin Kumar, 19, who had completed PUC and was attending computer classes. 

According to police, on May 4, when he informed his family that he had been suffering from a stomach-ache for the past 4-5 days, his family members took him to a clinic in Kaniyoor.

The doctors who examined him advised him to undergo scanning. He was informed about a kidney stone and later, they returned home. That same night, he suffered from stomach-ache again and was rushed to a private hospital in Puttur.

On May 7, as per doctors’ advice, he was discharged around 12:45pm. However, when he came home around 2:30pm, he again suffered from stomach-ache and was taken to another private hospital in Puttur, where doctors conducted a surgery.

On Wednesday, as per doctors’ advice, he was asked to be shifted to Mangaluru for better treatment.

He visited a private hospital in Derakatte, where doctors suggested that he be shifted to government Wenlock Hospital.

The doctors who examined him at the Wenlock Hospital declared him dead. A case has been registered at the Bellare police station, and an investigation is on.

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News Network
May 4,2024

somasundar.jpg

Mangaluru, May 4: A tragic incident unfurled last evening in Subrahmanya of Kadaba taluk in Dakshina Kananda, where a young gentleman, who had recently entered the bonds of matrimony a mere ten days hence, met his untimely demise due to a lightning strike.

As twilight descended, a tempestuous thunderstorm, accompanied by billowing rain clouds, cast its shadow over the locale.

Somasundar was diligently engaged in the task of piling up dried nuts in the yard to shield them from the impending deluge, when fate cruelly intervened, subjecting him to the fatal force of a lightning bolt.

Despite the expeditious efforts to convey him to Kadaba Community Hospital subsequent to his sudden indisposition, he tragically succumbed to his injuries. 

Somasundar, who operated a car washing enterprise in proximity to Subrahmanya, is mourned by his mother, sister, and wife.

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News Network
May 5,2024

Iran.jpg

Iran has urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with the Israeli regime as means of pressuring Tel Aviv to end its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Saturday, addressing the 15th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia’s capital Banjul.

“Beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation,” he said.

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargo [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, causing forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and enabling the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm.

Amir-Abdollahian said Gaza’s developments proved that elimination of the Palestinian resistance “was nothing but an illusion.”

“Because the Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The foreign minister asserted that realization of sustainable peace and security in the region was only possible through cessation of the regime’s occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland, and manifestation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

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