ISLAMABAD (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Pakistan detained on Tuesday a prominent Kashmiri Resistance leader, Maulana Azhar Masood, at his house in the central province of Punjab, a government spokesman said.
``I confirm he has been detained,'' the military government's top spokesman, Major-General Rashid Qureshi, told Reuters when asked about the Jaish-i-Mohammad Resistance group's leader.
The government move came after New Delhi demanded Pakistan arrest leaders of Jaish and another Pakistan-based Resistance group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, accusing them of involvement in a December 13 attack on India's parliament.
But Qureshi said he could not immediately give reasons for the action.
Earlier, a spokesman for Jaish said the police had surrounded Azhar's home in the southern Punjab town of Bahawalpur and would not allow him to leave.
The allegations are denied by both Jaish and Lashkar, which are among more than a dozen Kashmiri Resistance groups fighting India's rule in the disputed Himalayan region.
While blaming Jaish and Lashkar for the parliament attack, India also accuses Pakistan of supporting the groups and giving their leaders sanctuary.
New Delhi has demanded that Islamabad act quickly to close down what it says are terrorist groups, freeze their funds and arrest their leaders.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has promised to act against the groups if India provides a credible evidence, which Islamabad says has not been done so far.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it was freezing the assets of Lashkar and the Umma Rameer-e-Nau non-governmental organization after the United States accused them of supporting terrorism.