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In a latest development, the Jamat-ud-Dawah chief, Hafiz Saeed, who has been under house arrest since January, was presented before a three-member provincial judicial review board amid high security in Pakistan's Punjab. The government on Tuesday sought the extension of detention of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed under public safety law, two days after withdrawing its application to prolong his house arrest under the anti-terrorism law. The Punjab Judicial Review Board heard arguments of a law officer of the Punjab Home Department for the extension of detention of Saeed and his four close aides -Abdullah Ubaid, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Abdul Rehman Abid, and Qazi Kashif Hussain. Their detention period is scheduled to expire on October 24. Under the law, the government can detain a person for up to three months under different charges. The government can extend the detention only after the approval from the judicial review board. The explanation for the government withdrawing its application seeking extension to detention of Saeed and others is that since the Punjab government has extended the detention of Saeed and four others for October 24 under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960, it does not require to have their house arrest extended under the anti-terrorism law. On January 31, Saeed and his accomplices were detained by the Punjab government for 90 days under preventative detention under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. However, the last two extensions were made on the 'public safety law'. The Jamat-ud-Dawah has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States in June 2014. The JuD chief carries a reward of USD 10 million announced by the US for his role in terror activities.

On Saturday, the authorities withdrew terrorism charges against Saeed and the JuD and kept him under detention under the Maintenance of public Order, paving the way for his possible release. Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was placed under house arrest by Pakistani authorities late in January. Despite a mountain of evidence against Saeed and his organisation, he has never been convicted in a court of law in Pakistan for want of credible prosecution. New Delhi's response to the events of last month is laden with scepticism. Vikas Swarup, the spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs, continued to question "Pakistan's sincerity" in dealing with home-grown terror. This apparent change in tack from authorities in Pakistan does not alter the fact that groups like the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad are responsible for a host of deadly terror attacks on Indian soil. These groups have been central to the Pakistan military-intelligence establishment's plan of using "non-state actors" to fulfil their strategic objectives against India, especially in the volatile Kashmir region.

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