JuD camps, websites shut, chief arrested: Pak

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has claimed that it has detained 71 members of outlawed militant groups and put under surveillance 124 others, besides shutting down five "training camps" of JuD and banning its websites in the wake of the Mumbai attacks blamed on elements based in this country.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said a special investigation team headed by an Additional Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency is being set up to examine "without any prejudice" all aspects of the Mumbai attacks and the information provided by India. The team will include two other officers with counter-terrorism experience.

Giving details of Pakistan's investigation in the wake of the Mumbai incident, Malik said 71 members of banned militant groups had been detained so far.

Among them are leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Lashker-e-Toiba, including Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of both groups, Mufti Abdur Rehman, Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed, Ameer Hamza and LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Significantly, Malik did not say whether any legal proceedings had been initiated against the detained persons.

Authorities had shut down eight relief camps and five training camps run by JuD in Punjab province and PoK. Though no evidence was found in these facilities, there were "traces" that 5 of them were being used as "training camps", he said.

Six publications of JuD, including the weekly 'Ghazwa', and the group's websites too had been banned, he said.

Malik said that 124 members of banned groups had also been placed under surveillance for the past six months under the provisions of anti-terror laws.

Asked whether the information given by India on the Mumbai attacks constituted evidence, he replied: "We are accepting that information, and we have formed an investigation team with a view to reach the culprits."