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Lahore, Jan 19(ANI): India and Israel are behind the summons issued by a US court against Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Muhammad and present and former ISI officials, some Pakistani nationals have alleged.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa in charge political affairs Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, renowned legal expert Barrister Farooq Hassan, member Islamic Ideology Council Maulana Muhammad Shafi Josh and secretary general JWP (Aali) Rauf Sasoli expressed these views while addressing the participants of a seminar titled ‘Cases on Pakistani citizens in America and its affects’.

DG ISI Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, his predecessor Lt Gen (r) Nadeem Taj, Major Ali and Major Iqbal are among the Pakistani officials who have been summoned, while LeT chief Hafiz Saeed and his operational commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi are also in the summons list.

Makki said New Delhi, Tel Aviv and Washington were trying to destabilise Pakistan, and that India and America had no evidence against Hafiz Saeed regarding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, The Nation reports.

If the Pakistan government did not show weakness, no foreign government could dare to summon Pakistani citizens, including Saeed and the ISI chief, he added.

Makki said the Muslim community around the globe should get united and transform itself into a formidable force that could influence India, Israel and the United Stated for stopping their atrocities in Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The JuD leader said they had responded to the summon against Saeed through their counsel, that the US courts had no jurisdiction on Pakistan’s soil and that they could not summon any Pakistani citizen.

Accusing the Pakistan government of not taking a firm stance on this issue, he said the Indian government’s evidence on the Mumbai terror siege carried no weight, as Ajmal Qasab had backed out of his statement regarding the attacks, telling the Indian court that Indian security services had taken his statement forcibly.

Makki also questioned the US authorities whether they would allow Pakistani courts to summon CIA officials and other American citizens, and said that the Americans did not respect Pakistan’s courts, and similarly there was no importance of the Brooklyn court summon against Dawa.

Barrister Farooq Hassan said the US court had no legal right to proceed against an incident that occurred in India, as the US had no direct link with the Mumbai attack case, adding that this issue should be taken seriously, as it was a matter of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

The Pakistan government should defend Hafiz Saeed like the ISI chief, as Dawaa’s chief was a highly respectable person of the country, he added.

It is noteworthy that the Pakistan Government had announced its intention to defend the ISI officials, but dodged the issue of defending the JuD chief.

“Pakistan will defend its officials. So, here we are talking about officials. As far as defending non-officials is concerned, I would not be in a position to answer your question,” Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit as quoted, as telling a weekly briefing.

Maulana Muhammad Shafi Josh said the perception of India regarding destabilising Pakistan with the support of America and Israel was wrong, as the entire nation expressed complete solidarity on the issue of protecting the blasphemy laws.

If the government could take measures to defend its institutions, then it should also take steps to safeguard the basic rights of its every citizen including Hafiz Saeed, he added Maulana Josh said that summoning Pakistani citizens in American courts was a violation of Pakistan’s Constitution, and appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for taking notice of every violation of the Constitution. (ANI)