Pakistan says 71 arrested in Mumbai crackdown

ISLAMABAD— Pakistan on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to root out extremists on its soil, saying it had so far arrested 71 people in a crackdown on banned groups in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.
Earlier, interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters that Pakistan had arrested 124 members of an Islamic charity linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which New Delhi has blamed for the Mumbai carnage in late November.
But interior secretary Syed Kamal Shah later told AFP there had been a "mix-up" about the figures at the press conference, saying 71 people had been detained and another 124 placed under virtual house arrest.
"Those who are placed under surveillance cannot leave their homes or area without informing the authorities about it. This is stringent surveillance," Shah said, noting suspects were being watched under Pakistan's anti-terror act.
Malik said Pakistan was "very, very serious" about fighting extremism, saying the anti-terror fight was the "only option" for Islamabad.
The 71 people arrested are members of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, one of the country's biggest charities, but which is widely viewed as the political wing of LeT, banned here after an attack on the Indian parliament in late 2001.
The crackdown came in response to a UN Security Council resolution passed last month, describing Jamaat-ud-Dawa as a terror group.
Immediately after the resolution was passed, Pakistan placed the charity's leader Hafiz Saeed -- who is also the founder of LeT -- under house arrest and froze the group's assets.
Malik said Thursday the state had since shut down five Jamaat-ud-Dawa camps, blocked six websites and closed several madrassas, or religious schools.
The senior official said that Islamabad needed more information from India in order to proceed with its own probe into the attacks in Mumbai and eventual prosecution of suspects, but expressed solidarity with New Delhi.
"We are with you. We have given commitment to the international community. We have to fight our common enemy," Malik said.
"This is the time that Pakistan and India need to stick together," he said, but added: "We'll be needing more information."
Malik said a high-powered team from the Federal Investigation Agency -- Pakistan's FBI -- would review all material provided by India in connection with the Mumbai attacks, which killed 174 people including nine of the gunmen.
Islamabad "will inquire into this matter with full conviction," he told reporters.
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals escalated after India accused "official agencies" in Pakistan of involvement in the attacks -- a claim that authorities here have vehemently denied.
Islamabad has confirmed that the lone surviving gunman, who is in Indian custody, is a Pakistani national.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Tuesday that he did not believe the Pakistani state had directed the attacks -- a statement welcomed by Malik.
Miliband is due in Pakistan on Friday for talks with senior officials.