Pakistan cleric denounces UN move

Mr Saeed says that the case against him is flimsy

Pakistani cleric Hafiz Mohammad Saeed has denounced a UN decision to put him on a terror blacklist as leader of a militant front group.

Mr Saeed described the decision as an attack on Islam and an injustice.

He criticised the UN for making its decision without giving him a chance to defend himself or his organisation.

Mr Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa group is seen by India to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba. He says it provides medical aid in 73 Pakistani cities.

Lashkar-e-Taiba has been been blamed by Delhi for carrying out last month's attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) which killed nearly 200 people.

'Hatred of Islam'

The cleric told the BBC's Barbara Plett that the Pakistani government had not contacted him since the UN announcement.

"It's an international law that if you want to say anything against someone, you have to listen to him," he said.

Any sanctions against us will hurt the general public Hafiz Mohammad Saeed Terror base or school?

"But they haven't given us any evidence. They haven't contacted us, they have just banned us on their own.

"It's only hatred of Islam, this decision is only on the basis of propaganda... the international law of justice says that you cannot give any decision unless you have heard from the other party."

He said that if the Pakistani government tried to to ban his charity, he would pursue the matter through Pakistan's courts, which had previously declared his organisation legal.

Mr Saeed said that he had broken past links with the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba group - which he said was based in Kashmir, whereas his organisation was based in Pakistan.

He said that moves to curtail the activities of his organisation would be highly damaging.

"We operate 160 schools in which thousands of students are studying, we operate ambulances in 73 Pakistani cities, we've got eight big hospitals, we're running 156 dispensaries and provided 800,000 hepatitis vaccinations.

"Any sanctions against us will hurt the general public."

Mr Saeed also vigorously denied allegations that he had connections to the Mumbai attackers.

According to Indian police, the captured gunman said that he heard the cleric give a motivational speech at a Lashkar-e-Taiba training camp in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Mr Saeed said he only made religious speeches in Pakistan, adding that he had millions of supporters across the country and they would not follow a terrorist.