Mumbai attacks mastermind Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed will remain under house arrest for 90 more days after his detention period ends on Sunday, PTI reported. The decision was taken by Pakistan’s Punjab government, an unidentified government official told the news agency. Government spokesperson Malik Ahmed Khan confirmed the development and said a formal notice will be issued soon.
The decision was taken reportedly at a consultative meeting earlier held by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar. Saeed was put under house arrest on January 30 in Lahore along with his four aides. The government has also put him on the exit control list. His 90-day detention will end on Sunday.
A Defence Ministry official has said that Pakistan had been feeling the pressure from the US since President Donald Trump took over as he “is taking hard decisions against Muslim countries”. The interior ministry’s statement had said that the JuD was under observation since 2010. The United Nations Security Council had imposed sanctions on JuD and Saeed in December 2008 for supporting the al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The US, which had declared JuD a terrorist organisation in 2014, had earlier offered $10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Saeed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The JuD is a front for the banned Lashkars-e-Taiba militant organisation. India had named Saeed, LeT and JuD the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack.
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