Pakistani authorities have extended for 60 days the detention of the founder of the Islamist militant group India has blamed for November's attacks in Mumbai.
Hafiz Saeed was put under house arrest in the city of Lahore in early December after a UN Security Council committee added him and an Islamist charity he heads to a list of people and organisations linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
Saeed founded the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group in 1990, and for years it battled Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region. The group was banned in Pakistan in 2002.
He is also head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, which the United Nations said last month was a front for the LeT.
A spokesman for the provincial government in Punjab, said Saeed and five senior charity members had their house arrest extended for 60 days. Fifty-five activists had been put on a watch list.
"We extended it because we have nothing against them to produce in court. We're acting on the UN resolution. After 60 days, we'll review it," Rasheed said.
Ties between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars since 1947, deteriorated sharply after coordinated attacks by 10 gunmen on the Indian city of Mumbai in late November that killed 179 people.
Pakistan has denied involvement by state agencies and has said it is investigating Pakistani links to the attack.
India has demanded Pakistan dismantle the "infrastructure of terrorism" and has repeatedly said "all options were open" in responding.
Reuters