ISLAMABAD: Lashkar-e-Taiba founder and leader of Jamaat-ud-daawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed, was released early on Wednesday after 71 days in detention. Immediately after his release, he described India as Pakistan's "eternal enemy" and criticised the Government for buckling under Indian pressure to detain him.

The controversial JuD chief was first detained on August 9, ordered freed by the Lahore High Court on August 28 but rearrested the same day.

The court struck down his detention on Tuesday for the second time, saying the Punjab Government had violated the Constitution in not serving detention orders to the accused at the time he was detained, and in not telling him the charges against him.

Mr. Saaed was freed from a Government guest house outside Lahore, where he spent most of the period of his detention. His first stop on being released was a JuD centre in Lahore, Markaz Al Qadsia.

Talking to JuD activists there, Mr. Saeed said the Punjab Government's charge that he was endangering relations with neighbouring countries was "baseless." According to a press release from JuD, he said if the Government meant India by "neighbours," then it was "quite obvious that Pakistan's relations with India were never excellent in the past, nor were they likely to be in the future... regardless of JuD's existence."

The Government had said that he was detained because the JuD was observed collecting funds for war victims in Palestine and Lebanon, and its activities could endanger Pakistan's relations with its "neighbours." Mr. Saeed asked if relations with India had improved in the period of his detention, and said they had only deteriorated.

"The reasons for this deterioration of relations were the constant allegations and accusations levelled against Pakistan by the Indian leadership. Jama'at-ud-Da'wah's humanitarian activities, he said, had nothing to do with it," according to the JuD statement.

Muslims and other minorities were struggling for their rights in India, but instead of solving its internal problems, the Indian Government had begun "a blame game" against Pakistan, he said. He also accused India of sponsoring terrorist activities within Pakistan.

Regrettable

"He said it is regrettable that Pakistan's Government buckles in the face of Indian propaganda instead of vigorously countering India's propaganda and terrorism," the JuD press release said.

His release had proved that Pakistan's judiciary could not be influenced by Governmental or foreign pressure, he told the JuD activists.

While freeing Mr. Saeed, the judge made caustic remarks on the grounds of the detention, observing it was not a crime to raise funds for "Muslim brothers," and that to say he had to be detained because he was endangering foreign relations was tantamount to suggesting the judiciary could be pressured by other countries.

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