Won?t defend 26/11 accused: Pakistan

The Pakistan government on Monday told a court that it would not defend alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed in a U.S. lawsuit filed by relatives of two Jewish victims.

?The government is defending the ISI before the U.S. court being an institute of the government while the JuD or its chief are not part of the government,? said Deputy Attorney General Naseem Kashmiri, on behalf of Pakistan?s Foreign Ministry.

?Therefore, the government cannot provide legal assistance to him or his organisation,? the response to Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court added.

Studying the response, the judge ordered Saeed?s lawyer A K Dogar to point out a law under which the government could be directed to defend Saeed, a Pakistani national, in the U.S. court and the hearing was adjourned till June 30.

The lawsuit was filed last year in a Brooklyn court by relatives of U.S. nationals Rabbi Gabriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, who were killed in the attack that left 166 people dead and over 300 injured.

They have accused Saeed, as a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader along with commanders Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Azam Cheema and Sajid Majid, former ISI chief Nadeem Taj, incumbent head Ahmed Shuja Pasha and two others of aiding the Mumbai attacks.

Damages of $75,000 have been sought in each of the nine claims by the plaintiffs in the case that has already issued summons to Saeed, the current and a former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and several other persons who named in the lawsuit.

Saeed, one of the most wanted men in India, contended that he was the JuD chief and had no links with LeT who had planned the attack, demanding that Pakistan defend him in the U.S. court like it was defending ISI chiefs and other officials.