The Pakistan government today banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the front organisation for the outlawed LeT blamed for the Mumbai attacks, after the UN Security Council declared it a terrorist outfit and sealed its nine offices in Sindh apart from rounding up over 20 of its activists.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters that the JuD had been banned with immediate effect. The group's offices across Pakistan were being sealed and its activists are under observation, he said.
The government acted after the UN Security Council notified the JuD as a front organisation for the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e Toiba, he said.
Malik did not say what action would be taken against the JuD founder, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, though he noted that all activities of the group were being monitored.
However, Dawn News channel reported, citing police sources, that Interior Ministry has already issued orders for detention of eight JuD leaders, including Saeed.
Geo News channel also quoted sources as saying that Saeed was likely to be placed under house arrest. Reports said the government had directed private TV news channels not to air statements by leaders and members of the banned groups.
The police chiefs of the four provinces were directed to monitor the activities of the JuD and seal its offices. Nine Jamaat offices in Sindh, including two in the provincial capital Karachi, were sealed and over 20 of its activists were rounded up, Dawn News channel reported.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte that "Pakistan has taken note of the designation of certain individuals and entities by the UN under Resolution 1267 of the UN Security Council and would fulfil its international obligations".
