The Punjab government has extended the detention period of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Malik Ishaq, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday. The banned outfit’s leader was imprisoned at a jail in Rahimyar Khan on September 25 to prevent sectarian violence. The channel said that Punjab Home Department had extended his imprisonment by another 60 days. Ishaq, who is held under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Act, is allegedly involved in 44 cases in which 70 people, mostly Shias, were killed.
He was released on bail on July 14 by a court hearing a case on the Sri Lankan cricket team attack. Ishaq has been in jail since 1997 for allegedly killing 12 members of Fida Hussain Ghalvi’s family, in addition to being allegedly involved in killing 58 other people in various incidents of sectarian violence. He is one of the founders of the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a key suspect in the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009.
