Lahore: The Punjab Judicial Review Board of Pakistan on Wednesday ordered the release of 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed, a day after the government expressed concern over possible sanctions from the International community, were it to end the house arrest of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder.
Saeed's lawyer A K Dogar told CNN-News18 that if his client was guilty, he should be punished. "But if there is no evidence against him, the court cannot pronounce him guilty."
Dogar also said that three judges of the court had given two days to show the evidence. "When the government failed to produce any evidence, the court said that Saeed cannot be kept without it."
Pakistan's Punjab government had, on Tuesday, produced Saeed before the Review Board comprising judges of the Lahore High Court seeking the extension of his detention by three months.
A Punjab home department official submitted before the board a plea explaining that the release of Saeed could result in the imposition of international sanctions.
He also told the board that the Federal Finance Ministry has "some important evidence" against Saeed to justify his detention. He further informed that Saeed had been detained on the basis of intelligence agencies' reports.
Under the law, the Pakistani government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges but for extension to that detention it needs approval from a judicial review board.
The Judicial Review Board had last month extended the detention of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief by a month. Saeed's detention was to end on November 23, three days before the ninth anniversary of a series of attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai.
The US has offered a USD 10 million bounty for Saaed for his alleged role in the Mumbai attack.
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