Pakistani police have placed Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the alleged mastermind of coordinated attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people, under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore.

Saeed was taken into custody at the headquarters for Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the religious charity he heads, late on Monday, a spokesman said.

"He has been arrested, and he is being taken in police custody to his home," Nadeem Awan told Al Jazeera.

Awan added that dozens of JuD supporters were accompanying the police convoy to Saeed's home.

"We have received the detention orders from the government of Pakistan, and I believe that this is not aimed at me, but is an international conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the Kashmir struggle," Saeed told reporters, referring to the disputed Indian-controlled territory of Kashmir, before he was escorted by police to his residence.

"This is the wish of [Indian PM Narendra] Modi, at the prompting of [US President Donald] Trump, and the government's helplessness."

The two countries have fought three wars over Kashmir, which both claim in full but control in parts.

In 2012, the United States placed a $10m bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who is also the founder of the armed group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Saeed has long since distanced himself from LeT, which has claimed responsibility for several attacks on Indian security forces and civilians, saying he now only runs JuD as a charity.

The United Nations and the United States, however, list JuD as a front for LeT. Both organisations, as well as Saeed as an individual, remain under international sanctions.

Saeed has been accused by both the US and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people in attacks across India's largest city.

READ MORE: US blacklists Pakistan's Jamaat-ud-Dawa

LeT has been banned as a "terrorist" organisation by Pakistan since 2002. In 2008, JuD was listed by Pakistan under a list of organisations subject to UN sanctions, including an assets freeze, arms embargo and international travel ban.

The group continues to work openly across Pakistan, however, running a network of seminaries, releasing several publications and carrying out widespread humanitarian aid work.

"We have never broken any laws of this country. If they have a legal order, then we will follow the law, and the doors of the court are available to us to seek justice," said Awan, shortly before Saeed's detention.



Four other men - Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz - are also to be held under the government's detention orders, local media reported, citing copies and footage of the detention orders.



The men are being detained under Section 11-EEE of Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act, which gives the government the power to arrest or detain "terrorism" suspects for up to 12 months.</s>Story highlights Hafiz Saeed has been arrested in Pakistan, along with four other suspects

Saeed can be detained for up to 12 months under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act

(CNN) The alleged mastermind of the 2008 terror attacks that left 164 people dead in Mumbai, India, has been placed under house arrest in Pakistan.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed -- the leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JUD) -- was detained in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, according to a government statement released late Sunday.

Saeed is under detention in the town of Lahore. Four other men -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- have also been placed under house arrest in other towns around Punjab.

The arrests come in conjunction with the placing of two organizations -- JUD and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation -- on a watch list under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

All the men were detained for being active members of the organizations and are being held under Section 11-EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which gives the government the power to arrest or detain suspects for up to 12 months.

Read More</s>MUMBAI TERROR attacks mastermind, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief, Hafiz Saeed, has been placed under “house arrest”, Pakistan media reported Monday, quoting sources in Punjab’s provincial government.

In a video message issued before his arrest, Saeed blamed the bonhomie between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump for the latest action. He also asked his followers to raise the issue of Kashmir during Kashmir Solidarity Day, observed every year in Pakistan on February 5, and said that he was not afraid of being arrested. The video message was shared by the JuD’s media cell and appeared to have been recorded inside a moving car.

Saeed says in the message that his arrest was the result of pressure from India given his advocacy of the Kashmir issue and Balochistan.

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What also added to the pressure on Pakistan, he suggested, was the “deep friendship” that Trump wanted to forge with Modi.

JuD spokesperson Yahya Mujahid was quoted by Reuters as saying that Pakistan’s Punjab police arrived at the organisation’s headquarters in Lahore with orders to place Saeed under house arrest. “These steps are being taken to please India,” claimed Mujahid.

There was no official confirmation from Pakistan on his arrest, but Indian government sources said they were monitoring the development. “Our diplomats in Islamabad will be sending us a report on the issue,” government sources told The Indian Express, adding that Saeed had been arrested at least twice in the last 10 years but let off subsequently.

JuD, a self-proclaimed charity organisation, is believed to be a front for the banned LeT and Saeed was declared a globally designated terrorist by the United Nations. In 2012, the US announced a $10 million bounty on Saeed.

Quoting sources, Geo News, Pakistan’s largest TV news channel, said that Saeed has been placed under house arrest at Jamia Qadsia Chauburji in Lahore.

According to a purported letter titled ‘Action against Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation and Jamaat ud Dawa’ issued by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry and posted by Geo News on its website, Saeed has been placed under “preventive detention”, along with four others. The four were identified as Abdullah Ubaid (Faisalabad), Zafar Iqbal (Muridkay, Markaz-e-Taiba), Abdur Rehman Abid (Muridkay, Markaz-e-Taiba) and Qazi Kashif Niaz (Multan, presently in Lahore). According to Geo News, the Ministry of Interior had included their names on a Watch List as per UNSC norms.

According to the letter, the Ministry has “placed Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JUD) on the Watch List and have listed these organizations in the Second Schedule of the ATA 1997 (as amended)”.

“Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz are reportedly active members of the aforementioned organizations… As such, they must be placed under preventive detention,” states the letter.

It asks the Punjab Home Secretary to “kindly direct the concerned agencies to move and take necessary action” as the matter “is most urgent”.

Earlier Monday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that the PML-N government was taking steps to “fulfill our obligations”.

“The organisation [JuD] has been ‘under observation’ since 2010-11. Since it has also been listed by the UN Security Council [Sanctions

Committee], we are bound to take some steps. We are taking those steps to fulfill our obligations,” he told reporters after inaugurating a passport office in Islamabad, according to a report in Express Tribune.

According to a report published in The News newspaper Monday, the US had warned Pakistan of sanctions if it did not declare JuD “defunct”.

 “Consultations are going on whether to declare JuD as defunct or not. However, the final decision will be taken after consultations between the civilians and military authorities,” The News quoted an official as saying.

The News report claimed that United States assistant secretary of state had raised the issue during a meeting with Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, on January 11.</s>After the authorities in Pakistan put Islamist leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed under house arrest in Lahore on Tuesday (31 January), his supporters have now vowed to protest against his detention.

Saeed, the chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, is accused of planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed the lives of 166 people, including commuters, foreigners and some of India's wealthy elite.

However, Saeed and his supporters have denied his role behind the attacks. His allies accused Islamabad of agreeing to the wishes of the United States, which has announced a $10mn (£7.99mn) reward for information leading to Saeed's arrest, and India.

He was detained by the police at the Lahore headquarters of his charity, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), on Monday night and shortly before dawn he was taken to his house, where he was put under arrest. Police has also set up a perimeter around his house, Reuters reported.

"This government has buckled under the pressure," JuD spokesman Nadeem Awan said; while, another spokesman, Farooq Azam, announced protests in Karachi by "different religious and Kashmir leaders".

According to a senior Pakistani defence ministry official, Islamabad has not yet contacted the new US administration under President Donald Trump but had been feeling the pressure of Washington on the issue.

"Trump is taking hard decisions against Muslim countries; there is open talk of actions against Pakistan also. So yes, this was a consideration," the official said.

While, some reports claimed that as India has pushed a broader diplomatic campaign to isolate Pakistan, so Islamabad has taken this step.

Saeed was earlier put under house arrest soon after the attack, but was released about six months later in June 2009.</s>'Charade', noun, refers to an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance. 'Dumb charade' is a game in which one player uses pantomime to act out a phrase or words for other players to guess. 'Dumbest charade' (not in dictionary) is to carry out an absurd pretence and then expect the world to believe it.

No prizes for guessing the category in which Pakistan's latest move to place UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed under 'house arrest' falls. The two-act drama, staged by The Royal Pakistan Company, has bypassed its sell-by date and is now running at empty global theatres after countless reruns. The script is hackneyed and the ending obvious.

To have an idea of the 'severity' of the 'preventive detention' under which Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) frontman and Mumbai attacks mastermind Saeed has been held along with his four accomplices — Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niazi of Multan — take a look at what TheNew York Times had reported back in December 2008 when this play was enacted for the first time. Just as now, Saeed had then been 'confined' by Lahore police in his residence after the United Nations Security Council had declared JuD as a terrorist organisation and a front group for the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

NYT's Richard A Oppel Jr and Salman Masood, in this 2008 report under the headline: 'With House Arrest Pakistan Curbs, Lightly, a Leader Tied to Mumbai Attackers', wrote: "In Mr. Saeed’s leafy neighborhood, it was a decidedly more relaxed scene. Several dozen policemen ringed the area around his home, standing casually with rifles and enforcing a house arrest that seemed more of a forced vacation. Two heavily bearded workers from Jamaat-ud Dawa arrived with food, and the police raised the barricades and allowed them through, choosing not to inspect their Suzuki truck."

The report goes on to state how one policeman rushed at them when the NYT journalists arrived at the spot to claim that "Saeed was confined in his home" and has been "banned" from stepping outside. "Almost on cue," says the report, Saeed emerged from a "mosque across the street" and strolled back home. The cop tried to first blatantly deny that it was the JuD chief, and then gave in.

And if anyone had even the slightest of doubts about Pakistan's real intention, Saeed — who roams around with the US government bounty of $10 million on his head for numerous terror attacks on Indian soil, including the 26/11 attacks — was promptly let off in June 2009 just six months after the 'house arrest' by a Pakistan high court citing "lack of evidence". The case against him was suspended. Under the US pressure, Pakistan's federal and provincial governments did make half-hearted appeals a year later against the terrorist's release but the Supreme Court dismissed these appeals due to "lack of proof" despite several Indian dossiers.

Media reports from Pakistan indicate a large police contingent apparently gheraoed JuD headquarters in Lahore's Chauburji Chowk where Saeed was busy in a meeting with his aides. Citing an order from Pakistan's federal interior ministry, cops took him and four others into 'protective custody'. Pakistan-based newspaper Dawn, quoting a handout, reported that Hafiz and his associated have been 'arrested' for three months while The JuD and its affiliate Falah-i-Insaaniat Foundation "have been included in the second schedule and will be placed on the government’s watch list for six months under Section (1) 11EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997."

Interestingly, for a man about to be detained, Saeed still found enough time to organise an 'impromptu' news conference outside a mosque and accused Pakistan government of acting at the behest of India.

"I have received the (detention) orders of the government of Pakistan. I believe this is not against me but is an attempt to sabotage the freedom movement of Kashmir. This (action) is part of the international conspiracy. The government is helpless before the pressure of Trump and Modi… (It’s on) Modi’s insistence and Trump’s instigation," Pakistan-based newspaper The Nation has reported.

Notwithstanding these machinations of mountebanks, the question that arises is why did the Nawaz Sharif government (or more specifically the GHQ at Rawalpindi) feel compelled to re-enact the sordid drama? There is a feeling, betrayed by Pakistan interior ministry's reaction to Saeed's arrest, that Islamabad is feeling a little hot under the collar ever since Trump administration slapped a ban on immigration of citizens from seven countries. Pakistan isn't part of the 'blacklist' yet but White House has hinted that an extension in the future may include Pakistan.

In an interview to CBS on 29 January, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said the list of countries apart from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen "could grow".

"You can point to other countries that have similar problems like Pakistan and others — perhaps we need to take it further,” he said. “But for now, immediate steps, pulling the Band-Aid off, is to do further vetting for people traveling in and out of those countries."

Almost on cue, Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan suddenly remembered that the government must fulfill some "obligations" to JuD.

“The organisation (JuD) has been ‘under observation’ since 2010-11. Since it has also been listed by the UN Security Council (Sanctions Committee), we are bound to take some steps. We are taking those steps to fulfill our obligations,” he said on Monday.

Quoting a "security analyst in Islamabad," Hindustan Times reports that "Apart from the pressure publicly exerted by Washington, Beijing, too, has been quietly pushing Islamabad to act against these people" and that Monday's action is the result of these pressures.

It is interesting that China would urge Pakistan to take action against the JuD chief even as it repeatedly stonewalls New Delhi's efforts to blacklist Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar. Be that as it may, India should have no illusions about the nature of this comedy show.

At best, it may provide a small opportunity for a thaw in India-Pakistan relationship which showed some positive signs following Rawalpindi's decision to release Chandu Babulal Chavan this month, the Indian jawan who had inadvertently crossed over to the Pakistan side of the LoC. This is not a victory in the fight against terror, not even a small consolation. It is Pakistan's move to release some international pressure.

Expect Hafiz to be reinstated in full glory shortly.</s>ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan on Monday ordered Hafiz Saeed, accused by the United States and India of masterminding the 2008 attacks on the Indian financial capital Mumbai that killed 166 people, placed under house arrest, a spokesman for Saeed's organization said.

The move comes after years of pressure on Pakistan to put Saeed on trial and could ease recently escalating tensions with neighbor and arch-foe India.

The United States has offered $10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed, who heads Islamic charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). U.S. officials say JuD is a front for the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"A large police team arrived (at JuD headquarters) and told us that Hafiz would be placed under house arrest," Nadeem Awan, Secretary of Information for JuD, told Reuters.

Awan said the police tole them they had an arrest warrant for Saeed and five others at JuD headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore.

India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Saeed's continued freedom has been a source of continuing friction between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India as well as the United States.

Awan said the Pakistani government had been under pressure from the United States to take action against Saeed or face sanctions.

"This government has buckled under the pressure," Awan said.</s>Hafiz Mohammed Saeed -- the leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JUD) -- was detained in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, according to a government statement released late Sunday.

Saeed is under detention in the town of Lahore. Four other men -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- have also been placed under house arrest in other towns around Punjab.

The arrests come in conjunction with the placing of two organizations -- JUD and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation -- on a watch list under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

All the men were detained for being active members of the organizations and are being held under Section 11-EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which gives the government the power to arrest or detain suspects for up to 12 months.

US blamed for pressuring Pakistan to make arrests In a video statement released by the JUD, Hafiz Saeed said the decision to arrest him had been made due to "foreign pressure." "Trump is the new president of the United States who wants to have good relations with Modi," said Saeed. JUD spokesman, Hafiz Khalid Waleed, also blamed the United States for "putting pressure" on Pakistan to get Saeed arrested, threatening court action as well as street rallies. "We are going to take this matter to the courts and to the streets. We are planning further rallies across the country in protest of this action," Waleed said, adding that Saeed's house arrest is for 19 days. Hafiz Saeed addresses demonstrators during a protest against the printing of satirical sketches of the Prophet Muhammad by French magazine Charlie Hebdo, in Lahore on January 18, 2015. Neither Washington nor India have commented on the accusations, but security analyst and director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, Amir Rana, says it's more likely the decision was an internal one. "This arrest was a long time coming," he says, adding that Hafiz Saeed has been put under house arrest on two previous occasions, once in 2001 and again in 2003. "This appears to be a genuine effort by Pakistan authorities to combat non-state actors within its borders," Rana told CNN. India has long called for Hafiz Saeed's arrest, for what it says is his involvement in a number of terror attacks on Indian soil. In the past, India says it has provided irrefutable proof of Saeed's involvement in the Mumbai attacks. Activists burn an effigie of Hafiz Saeed during a protest in New Delhi on December 21, 2014. Saeed is accused by both India and the US of being responsible for the deadly attacks that struck different locations across Mumbai nearly a decade ago, when a group of gunmen went on a three day rampage, using automatic weapons and grenades to strike hotels, cafes, a railway station and a cinema. Outlawed group, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, meaning "army of the pure," was widely thought to be responsible . According to the UN Security Council, Saeed's JUD organisation is synonymous with the terrorist group and supportive of al Qaeda and the Taliban. Saeed himself has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Mumbai killings or support for terrorist activities. "Those people who are carrying out violent attacks or are involved in militants activities ... are giving the mujahadeen and jihad a bad name," he said in an interview with CNN in 2012 "I condemn this attack and the innocent lives that have been lost." Mumbai attack suspect wants to help U.S. Mumbai attack suspect wants to help U.S. He also highlighted Jamaat-Ud-Dawa's charitable activities and extended an offer of aid to the US in the wake of Superstorm Sandy -- an offer that was quickly rejected by Washington. The US State Department describes JUD's mission as the establishment of Islamist rule in India and Pakistan and has in the past offered as much as $10,000,000 for any information that might lead to his arrest or conviction.</s>Islamabad: In a surprise move, the Pakistan's military on Tuesday said that the house arrest of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, was decided keeping the decision of national interest in mind.

"This is a policy decision that the state took in national interest. The decision to place Hafiz Saeed under house arrest was taken collectively by all state institutions," said Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, the army's media arm.

Interestingly, while Maj Gen Ghafoor denied that Saeed was arrested due to any foreign pressure, the Jamat-ud-Dawa chief himself said, "My detention order has come from Washington and not Islamabad."

Ghafoor said, "I'd be able to elaborate on the matter as time passes," indicating there was no plan to relax restrictions on Saeed any time soon. Saeed had been roaming free despite spewing venom against India for years.

Saeed's supporters said President Donald Trump was leaning on Islamabad to please the current right-wing BJP government in India.

Some observers also claimed that Islamabad had not been contacted by the new US administration on the issue but the decisions that Trump took against Muslim countries pushed Pakistan to act against Saeed.</s>(CNN) The alleged mastermind of the 2008 terror attacks that left 164 people dead in Mumbai, India, has been placed under house arrest in Pakistan.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed -- the leader of Pakistan's Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JUD) -- was detained in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, according to a government statement released late Sunday.

Saeed is under detention in the town of Lahore. Four other men -- Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz -- have also been placed under house arrest in other towns around Punjab.

The arrests come in conjunction with the placing of two organizations -- JUD and the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation -- on a watch list under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

All the men were detained for being active members of the organizations and are being held under Section 11-EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which gives the government the power to arrest or detain suspects for up to 12 months.

Speaking after the arrests, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs greeted the news with caution.

"Exercises such as yesterday's orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also," he said in a statement.

"Only a credible crackdown on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organizations involved in cross border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan's sincerity."

US blamed for pressuring Pakistan to make arrests

In a video statement released by the JUD, Saeed said the decision to arrest him had been made due to "foreign pressure."

"(Donald) Trump is the new president of the United States who wants to have good relations with (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi," said Saeed.

JUD spokesman Hafiz Khalid Waleed also blamed the US for "putting pressure" on Pakistan to get Saeed arrested, threatening court action as well as street rallies. "We are going to take this matter to the courts and to the streets. We are planning further rallies across the country in protest of this action," Waleed said, adding that Saeed's house arrest is for 19 days.

Neither Washington nor India have commented on the accusations, but security analyst and director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, Amir Rana, says it's more likely the decision was an internal one.

"This arrest was a long time coming," he says, adding that Saeed has been put under house arrest on two previous occasions, once in 2001 and again in 2003.

"This appears to be a genuine effort by Pakistan authorities to combat non-state actors within its borders," Rana told CNN.

India has long called for Saeed's arrest, for what it says is his involvement in a number of terror attacks on Indian soil. In the past, India says it has provided irrefutable proof of Saeed's involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Saeed is accused by both India and the US of being responsible for the deadly attacks that struck different locations across Mumbai nearly a decade ago, when a group of gunmen went on a three day rampage, using automatic weapons and grenades to strike hotels, cafes, a railway station and a cinema.

Saeed has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Mumbai killings or support for terrorist activities. "Those people who are carrying out violent attacks or are involved in militants activities ... are giving the mujahadeen and jihad a bad name," he said in an interview with CNN in 2012

"I condemn this attack and the innocent lives that have been lost."

He also highlighted Jamaat-Ud-Dawa's charitable activities and extended an offer of aid to the US in the wake of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 -- an offer that was quickly rejected by Washington.</s>Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and four aides were placed in house arrest by Pakistani authorities ahead of a financial task force’s deadline that would have had implications on the country’s financial sector if it was ignored.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), the group led by Saeed, and its front organisation, the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) were included in the interior ministry’s “watch list” but they were not banned, according to orders issued to the Punjab home department.

“A large police team arrived (at the JuD headquarters in Chowburji area of Lahore) on Monday night and told us that Hafiz Saeed would be placed under house arrest,” Nadeem Awan, the JuD’s information secretary, said in a statement.

Awan said police told them they had an arrest warrant for Saeed and four others. The others detained with the JuD chief are Abdullah Ubaid, Kashif Niaz, who is responsible for the JuD’s publications, and Zafar Iqbal and Abdur Rehman Abid, both from the group’s main base at Muridke on the outskirts of Lahore.
• None Pressure from US, China may have led to LeT founder Hafiz Saeed’s house arrest
• None Pak could be included in Trump’s immigration ban list in future: White House

Media reports said the government decided to put JuD and FIF on the watch list and approved the freezing of their assets and cancelling passports and arms licenses of their leaders to comply with the conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Pakistan is bound to take these actions under UN Security Council Resolution 1267.

Pakistan is set to submit its compliance report on implementing money laundering laws to FATF on Tuesday, a pre-requisite for ensuring the country remains in the FATF’s “white list”, The News daily reported.

In case of non-compliance, Pakistan could have slipped into the FATF’s negative list for failing to counter terrorism financing.

Saeed, who was present at the JuD centre at Jamia Masjid al-Qadsia at Chowburji on Monday, was quick to blame pressure from India and Pakistan for the action against him. He claimed India was also angered by his support for the Kashmir issue.

“We declared 2017 the year of Kashmir and I held a press conference with Hurriyat leaders from Kashmir in Islamabad. India made a lot of noise about that and I was expecting there will be some pressure,” he told the media before he was detained.

“I say with regret that this order for my house arrest has not come from Islamabad – this order has come here from Delhi and Washington.”

He added, “Our crime is that we are standing for Kashmir…Just as the Kashmiris are in the field, Pakistan must stand with Kashmir.”

Contingents of police and other law enforcing agencies surrounded the mosque at Chowburji. Saeed will be shifted to his residence in Johar Town, which will be declared a sub-jail.

Pakistani national flags were hoisted at JuD offices in Lahore, instead of the group’s black-and-white flags, on the directives of the Punjab home department and police started removing the banners of JuD from the roads of the city. However, JuD offices in other cities were not affected by the latest developments.

The move came hours after interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that his government had to fulfill its international obligations regarding groups such as JuD. He said the JuD was under the observation of the UN Security Council since 2010.

Officials have said consultations are being held on whether the JuD should be banned. A final decision will be taken after consultations between the civilian and military authorities, media reports said.

Observers said the move followed US pressure on the Nawaz Sharif government to act against terrorists. “There is mounting pressure on fears that America may take punitive action against Pakistan for its stance on organisations like the JuD,” said analyst Hasan Askari Zaidi.

JuD activists held demonstrations in Islamabad and Lahore to protest against a possible ban. Spokesman Yahya Mujahid said the JuD is consulting its legal team to challenge the government’s decision.

This is not the first time Saeed has been placed under house arrest. Soon after the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, Pakistani authorities cracked down on the JuD and detained Saeed. Within six months, he was freed on the orders of the orders of the Lahore high court.
Pakistan detains Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the suspected mastermind of the 2008 attacks in the Indian city. Saeed, co-founder of the active terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, is being held under house arrest in Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab Province. Four other men are also under house arrest in the area.