Ex-Lashkar chief challenges house arrest

The former head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Kashmiri militant group yesterday lodged a challenge in a Pakistani court against a month-long period of house arrest, his lawyer said.

The petition pleaded that the detention order of the Punjab provincial government against Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was unjustified and illegal, lawyer Nazir Ahmed Ghazi told AFP.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said Tuesday that Saeed's detention was not related to a foiled plot revealed last week to blow up airliners flying from Britain to the United States.

The Lahore High Court has called for a report from the provincial government and fixed a hearing date for August 23, Ghazi said.

Saeed was placed under house arrest in Lahore, the capital of Punjab, on August 9, a day before British authorities arrested more than 20 Britons, mainly of Pakistani origin, who were allegedly involved in the bomb plot.