Islamabad - Pakistani authorities have released a cleric blamed
by the United States and India for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai,
after a court rejected the government's plea to extend his house
arrest, his spokesman said on Friday.
Hafiz Saeed, chief of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa group, walked free overnight
Thursday after authorities in the central province of Punjab withdrew
police from his house where he was detained, his spokesman Ahmed
Nadeem told dpa.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa is thought to be a front for the militant
Lashkar-e-Toiba group. That organization's fighters killed more than
160 people in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008 in commando-style
gun-and-grenade attacks.
Saeed, who has a 10-million US-dollar bounty on his head for the
attacks, in which six Americans were killed, has denied his
involvement.
The US State Department said on Friday said it was "deeply concerned"
to learn that Saeed had been released.
Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that Lashkar-e-Toiba "is a designated
Foreign Terrorist Organization responsible for the death of hundreds
of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of
American citizens."
In a video message overnight, Saeed said his release was a victory
for truth.
"I'm happy that nothing has been proved against me. India has been
lobbying against me," the militant leader said.
A Pakistani court on Wednesday rejected the government plea seeking
to extend Saeed's detention for another three months on the grounds
that his release would undermine public safety.
He was put under house arrest in January but was never charged.
Authorities had kept him detained under a public safety law allowing
the government to detain suspects temporarily.
His release comes two weeks after the US Congress approved a bill
stating that the American administration would not pressure Pakistan
to take action against Lashkar-e-Toiba for counter-terrorism
reimbursements.
It is not clear whether the two developments are linked.