KARACHI, JAN 31, (DNA) -Protests were held in different cities of the country including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Faisalabad and others against the detention of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, who was put under house arrest a day earlier.

The opposition members also staged a protest and a walkout in Punjab Assembly.

In Karachi, the protestors gathered at press club and staged a demonstration against the move and chanted slogans against the USA and India.

Similar protests were also staged in Peshawar, Mardan, Faisalabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Lodhran, Khanewal and Muzaffarabad.

Authorities have placed JuD chief Professor Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and four others under house arrest.

He, however, was not the only one as four more were taken into preventive custody. They were identified as Abdullah Ubaid, Zafar Iqbal, Abdur Rehman Abid and Qazi Kashif Niaz.

The Ministry of Interior has “placed Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) and Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JUD) on the Watch List as per UNSC 1267 Sanctions and have listed these organisations in the Second Schedule of the ATA 1997 (as amended).”

Earlier today, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor briefed the media, stating that restrictions on Saeed was a policy decision.

“This was a policy decision taken by the state in the national interest and several institutions will have to play their role. This news came yesterday and in the coming days more details will be available,” DG ISPR said.

The DG ISPR emphasised that there was no foreign pressure behind this decision and it was taken in national interest.