Pakistani authorities have placed restrictions on the movement of Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), “by confining him to his multi-storeyed concrete compound in the Model Town area of Bahawalpur”. Masood Azhar’s activities have been restricted in the wake of the Indian government’s demand to hand him over to New Delhi. The confinement comes even as Pakistani security forces have launched a crackdown on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group that India says is responsible for the Mumbai attacks that claimed 172 lives & injured nearly 250.

LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi & 19 of his men were arrested in the crackdown that began Sunday. The crackdown & Masood Azhar’s confinement come within the 48 hour deadline the US set on Sunday for Pakistani action in the wake of the Mumbai mayhem. Following the attacks, India had given to Pakistan a list of three people – Maulana Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim & Tiger Memon – for their immediate extradition. The Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), at a meeting here Monday chaired by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, had rejected the demand, saying there was no extradition treaty between India & Pakistan.