Pakistan puts LeT founder under house arrest

Pakistan put Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafeez Sayeed under one month house arrest at his residence in Lahore on Thursday. He figures in the list of wanted persons forwarded by India and currently heads the Jamat-ud-Dawa.

Sayeed was put under detention at around 0130 IST, JD spokesperson Yahya Mujahid told PTI from Lahore.

The government has also cancelled permission for the Jamat-ud Dawa to hold a rally on August 14, Pakistan's independence day.

The organisation was told that the detention was for a month, Mujahid said, adding the permission to hold the rally was cancelled within 42 hours of its being granted.

Sayeed, the founder of the banned LeT formed JD in 2002, as Pakistan geared up to ban his organisation following massive mobilisation of troops by India in the aftermath of December, 2001 attack on Parliament.

Since then he claimed that he had severed all links with the LeT.

However, JD, which has been permitted to take part in the relief activities in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir after last year's earthquake, has been on the watch list of Pakistan's Interior Ministry.

India and United States have criticised Pakistan for permitting JD to take part in the relief activities.

Sayeed is one of the top names on the list of militant leaders India wants Pakistan to extradite. He, along with Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, has been blamed for the attack on Parliament.

Sayeed's detention comes after revelations of LeT's hand in the recent Mumbai bomb blasts, after which India put off Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan.

Relations between the two countries suffered further after the expulsion of a senior Indian diplomat Deepak Kaul on the grounds that he indulged in activities incompatible with his diplomatic status.