Pakistan moves on Mumbai accused


Hafiz Mohammad Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba


Pakistan has put the founder of an Islamic militant group accused of having links to the Mumbai attacks under house arrest.
Cleric Hafiz Mohammad Saeed set up the group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India says planned and carried out the attacks.
Pakistan is also closing offices of Mr Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, after it was put on a UN blacklist.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attacks, which killed at least 170 in Mumbai (Bombay) last month.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry told the BBC that Jamaat-ud-Dawa buildings would be shut across the country immediately.
Hours before he was placed under house arrest, Mr Saeed told the BBC that he had broken links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.
He also vigorously denied claims that he had connections with the Mumbai attackers.
"We don't have any office [that] develops terrorists, do terrorist activities. I preach religion," he said.
UN pressure
Mr Saeed's spokesman, Abdullah Montazir, told Reuters news agency that police had encircled Mr Saeed's home in Lahore and told him he could not leave.
"They have told him detention orders will be formally served to him shortly," he said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani promised Pakistan would comply with a UN Security Council demand to list Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terrorist group.
At least 170 people died after the Mumbai attacks last month


Speaking after meeting top US official John Negroponte in Islamabad, Mr Gilani said Pakistan would take note of the decision and fulfil what he described as its international obligations.
Pakistan has been under intense pressure to act after the attacks. India's prime minister has said Pakistan needs to do "much more" to combat terrorism.
Lahore police chief Pervez Rathor said that Mr Saeed and four other officials of the charity would be held at home for three months. He did not say whether the men would be charged.
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan says this is the first time the Jamaat-ud-Dawa has been placed on the list of proscribed or banned organisations in Pakistan.
Once a group has been placed on the list, action can be taken against it under the country's anti-terrorism law. Under that law, all assets of the organisation can be seized and its offices and other places of business shut down, our correspondent says. Mr Saeed officially quit the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2001 to become head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7778074.stm