Pakistan puts Islamic leader under house arrest to prevent cartoons agitation News
Pakistan puts Islamic leader under house arrest to prevent cartoons agitation

[JURIST] As ongoing unrest stemming from the controversy over the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad [JURIST news archive] continues, Pakistani police on Friday placed radical Islamic leader Hafiz Mohammad Saeed under house arrest to prevent him from giving his usual Friday sermon at a mosque in Lahore. Saeed is the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba [backgrounder, Wikipedia profile] militia, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, and is the current leader of Jamaat-ul Dawat, an Islamic extremist group.

Police in eastern Pakistan also arrested 150 protestors Friday for violating a ban on rallies imposed earlier this week in response to deadly protests over the cartoons [JURIST report]. Protestors were arrested in Multan and pre-emptive arrests were also made in Lahore, Karachi and Faisalabad. AP has more. AFX has additional coverage.