LAHORE / KARACHI: Protests are expected across the country after Jamaat ud-Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafiz Saeed was placed under house arrest.
India has accused Hafiz Saeed of planning Mumbai attacks.
The detention of Hafiz Saeed could help ease tensions between nuclear-armed foes Pakistan and India, although New Delhi has not yet responded.
The Mumbai attacks brought Pakistan and India to the brink of war after 10 gunmen killed 166 people, including commuters, foreigners and some of India’s wealthy elite, in a rampage that included attacks on two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station.
Police detained Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group that India blames for the bloodshed, at the Lahore headquarters of his charity on Monday night. Shortly before dawn on Tuesday, he was taken by police to his house, where a foreign news agency cameraman saw police setting up a perimeter. They later banned media from the scene as about 100 Saeed supporters chanted slogans.
Supporters accused Islamabad of acquiescing to the wishes of the United States, which has a $10 million reward for information leading to Saeed’s arrest, and India.
“This government has buckled under the pressure,” JuD spokesperson Nadeem Awan said.
Another spokesperson, Farooq Azam, announced protests in Karachi by “different religious and Kashmir leaders”.
In recent months, Saeed has been holding regular press conferences about the security crackdown in Indian-Occupied Kashmir, castigating a crackdown against the mainly Muslim population there.
It was unclear why Pakistan decided to act now. A senior Pakistani defence ministry official said Islamabad had not been contacted by the new administration of US President Donald Trump but had been feeling US pressure on the issue. “Trump is taking hard decisions against Muslim countries, there is the open talk of actions against Pakistan also. So yes, this was a consideration,” said the official.
Other government officials have said recently that a broader diplomatic campaign – pushed by India – to isolate Pakistan has taken a toll, even involving pressure from longtime ally China.
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Saeed was put under house arrest after the Mumbai attack but was released about six months later in June 2009.
Read more: Hafiz Saeed put under house arrest
This means nothing. As Pakistan is known for doing these drama's to deflect critisism on their good terrorist policies.
Hafiz Saeed, will soon be free, once the situation cools down.
Shame on PML-N for persecuting Hafiz Saeed to please India and USA. Hafiz Saeed is a free citizen he cannot be put under house arrest based on phoney charges. Protests against such injustice are inevitable.
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