The sudden detention and then house arrest of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed by Pakistan on Monday night sparked speculation that the action was taken under pressure from the new Donald Trump administration of the United States of America.
However, as Pakistan has done in the past, the move could just be a deceit and the truth might be different than what is being publicised by Islamabad.
There are some reports claiming that Saeed has not been placed under house arrest as an anti-terrorism measure but because he faces threat from terror outfit Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The claim has been made by Dr Shahid Masood, a Pakistan-based political analyst who has worked with leading media groups of the country at different senior positions.
Appearing on Bol News show ‘Live with Dr Shahid Masood’, he said that sources have told him that Hafiz Saeed was at the target of TTP.
Dr Masood claimed that TTP had planned to dispatch its men and activated sleeper cells in Sindh and Punjab province in Pakistan to target Hafiz Saeed.
Pakistani security agencies intercepted some calls and messages originating from Afghanistan, which indicated that Jamaat-ud- Dawa chief may be targeted and this was the reason why the government put him under house arrest and tightened his security, he claimed.
Saeed has been placed under a 90-day house arrest along with four others under an Anti-Terrorism Act after an order was issued by Punjab Province's Interior Ministry on Monday in pursuance to a directive from the Federal Interior Ministry on January 27.
Pakistan has also put Saeed's name on the Exit Control List, preventing him from leaving the country.
JuD is the front for the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit which is responsible for the Mumbai terror strike of November 26, 2008. It has already been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.
