ISLAMABAD – Chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed on Fridaychallenged terror financing cases lodged against him in the Lahore HighCourt (LHC).

Saeed, along with Amir Hamza, Abdur Rehman Makki, M Yahya Aziz and fourothers filed a plea at the LHC, naming the federal government, Punjabgovernment and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) as respondents.

“The accused are not involved in any activities against the state.Accusations by the Indian lobby naming Saeed as the mastermind behindMumbai attacks are not based on reality,” the plea stated.

The plea prays upon the court to declare the First Information Report (FIR)registered against the petitioners null and void. It further adds thatSaeed has no relation with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al-Qaeda orany other similar organizations.

Earlier this month, Punjab’s CTD, in a major crackdown against terrorfinancing, registered 23 cases against the JuD chief and 12 aides for usingfive trusts to “funnel funds to terror suspects”.