India says detention of Hafiz Saeed not enough

NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday said the arrest of the Jamatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was not enough and demanded Pakistan to take more steps and conduct a "credible crackdown" on militant groups.

"Exercises such as yesterday's orders against Hafiz Saeed and others have been carried out by Pakistan in the past also," India's foreign ministry said after the leader of the JuD was placed under "preventative detention" on Monday night.

"Only a credible crackdown on the mastermind of the Mumbai terrorist attack and terrorist organisations involved in cross-border terrorism would be proof of Pakistan's sincerity," it added in a statement.

The firebrand cleric, who has a $10 million bounty on his head, was taken away by police and escorted to a residence where he now appears to be under house arrest. Four other JuD followers were detained in the same operation.

It was unclear why Pakistan chose to take action against the group but authorities have said they were "under obligation to take some action". India says JuD is a front for the militant Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, which it accuses of carrying out the attacks on India's financial capital Mumbai in November 2008 which killed more than 160 people.

India has long seethed at Pakistan's failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning the Mumbai attacks, while Pakistan said that India failed to give it crucial evidence.