Ians

Islamabad: Jammat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of Mumbai terror attack, was placed under house arrest in Lahore, media reports said.

"A large police team arrived (at JuD headquarters) and told us that Hafiz would be placed under house arrest," Dawn news quoted JuD's secretary of information, Nadeem Awan.

Awan said the police told them they had an arrest warrant for Saeed and five others at JuD headquarters.

The government launched a crackdown against JuD and a heavy contingent of police was deployed around the JuD headquarter and offices in Pakistan's Muridke and Lahore.

Hafiz Saeed was reportedly present at the Qudsia Mosque located in Chauburji area of Lahore.

Police sources further informed that Saeed will be shifted to his residence in the Johar Town area of the provincial capital, which will then be declared as a sub-jail.

The move, which comes after years of pressure on Pakistan to put Saeed on trial, could ease recently escalating tensions with India.

JuD is the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit which is responsible for the Mumbai terror strike of November 26, 2008. It has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

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