JuD protests against Hafiz Saeed’s house arrest

Islamabad, Jan 31 (IANS) Members of the Jamaat ud-Dawa (JuD) staged protests across Pakistan after the group's leader Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, was placed under house arrest.

Following the Pakistan government's crackdown against the JuD launched on Monday night, the organisation took out protests in major cities including capital Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Quetta and Hyderabad, Pakistan Today reported.

The protesters raised slogans in favour of the organisation and against India and the US.

A demonstration took place in front of the Lahore Press Club. JuD leaders, including Abu-al Hashim Rabbani, Abdul Majid Salfi and Masood-ur-Rehman, addressed the protest.

They said that the Jamaat is a patriot organisation and people are well aware of its activities and alleged that the Pakistan government was taking action against it just to please its "Indian and American overlords".

"We will launch a strong protest in case the government bans us," the leaders said, claiming that the JuD was "charity organisation".

At the time of detention, Saeed was reportedly at the Qudsia Mosque located in the Chauburji area of Lahore.

JuD is the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit which is responsible for the terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, that killed over 160 people, including several foreign nationals.

It was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US -- six of whose nationals died in the attack -- in June 2014.

In April 2012, the US put Saeed on its list of most-wanted terrorists and announced a reward of $10 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction.