Pakistan’s Supreme Court denies FETO request

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan’s top court on Thursday denies Fetullah Terrorist Organization’s (FETO) request to be represented by a new lawyer in a review petition, local lawyer Sohail Sajid told Anadolu Agency.

The three member bench said the petition could not file with a senior lawyer against the court’s verdict last year that the group be deemed a terror outfit.

Sajid filed a constitutional petition with the Supreme Court last December and requested the group labeled a terror outfit in the country.

On Dec. 28, 2018, the court ruled and directed the Interior Ministry to declare FETO-linked Pak-Turk International Cag Education Foundation (PTICEF) a “proscribed organization” and include its name in the list of terror outfits.

It also directed financial institutions to immediately freeze bank accounts of FETO-linked foundations and give custody assets to Turkiye Maarif Foundation.

Turkey established the Maarif Foundation in 2016 after a coup attempt to take over the administration of overseas schools linked to FETO. It also establishes schools and education centers abroad.

The top court also ordered the transfer of FETO's "movable and immovable assets", schools, colleges, education centers and other similar entities to the Maarif Foundation.

All 28 schools affiliated with FETO, had been handed over by Pakistani authorities to Maarif Foundation.

FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.