Pakistan court orders release of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed

Lahore(Pakistan): A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the release from house arrest of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief accused by the United States and India of masterminding attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed, a prosecutor said.
Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in January after years of living freely in Pakistan, one of the sore points in its fraying relationship with the United States.
The government of Pakistan's Punjab province had asked for a 60-day extension to Saeed's detention but the request was turned down by the court, prosecutor Sattar Sahil told Reuters.
"His previous detention for 30 days is over, which means he would be released tomorrow," said Sahil. Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
The United States had offered a $10 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). Members say the Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a charity but the United States says it is a front for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.
"The review board of the Lahore High Court asked the Punjab government to produce evidence against Hafiz Saeed for keeping him detained but the government failed," Saeed's lawyer A. K. Dogar told Reuters.
"The court today said that there is nothing against Saeed, therefore he should be released," he added.