Pak puts LeT founder under house arrest

Hafeez Sayeed, who figures in the list of wanted persons forwarded by India, has been put under one month house arrest.

Pakistan on Thursday put Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafeez Sayeed, who figures in the list of wanted persons forwarded by India, under one month house arrest at his residence in Lahore.

HT Image

Sayeed, who currently heads the Jamat-ud-Dawa (JD), was put under detention at around 0130 IST, JD spokesperson Yahya Mujahid told the agency 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 the 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 the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) after the last year's earthquake there was kept under "watch list" of the militant outfits by the Pakistan's Interior Ministry.

Sayeed, who has blamed for the attack on the Indian Parliament along with the leader of the Jaish-e-Muhammad, Masood Azhar figured top on the list of militant leaders who India wanted Pakistan to extradite.