The Pakistan government has cancelled the licences of 44 weapons that were issued to Hafiz Saeed and members of his outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa, reported PTI. The Punjab Home Department, which cancelled the licences for “security reasons”, said the step follows the government’s earlier move to place Saeed under house arrest for 90 days.

Saeed, who is the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, and four others were detained on January 30. The government also said it would monitor the activities of Falah-E-Insaniat Foundation – the charity wing of JuD – for six months. Since his house arrest, protests have been held in a number of regions in Pakistan, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lower Dir and Mansehra. JuD members have held demonstrations, holding up placards and chanting anti-India and anti-US slogans.

This comes two days after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said that Saeed could pose a “serious threat” to the country. “Terrorism is not synonymous to any religion...terrorists are not Muslims or Christians or Buddhists or Hindus...they are criminals,” Asif said at a security conference in Munich on February 19. Asif had assured that Islamabad would “counter this threat with full might of our state”.