ISLAMABAD: Under intense pressure from India and the US, Pakistan has detained top Jaish terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar, a day after suspected Mumbai attacks mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi was captured, even as Islamabad said it will not hand them over to New Delhi and they would be tried under the country's own laws.
    
Though having turned down India's demand for extradition of Azhar, the authorities put him under house arrest in his home in Bahawalpur on Monday. This is the third time that the Jaish chief has been put detained, but each time he has managed to be a free man.
    
India's demand for the extradition of suspects in the Mumbai attacks were out of question, the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, making it clear that his country which has arrested 20 people since Saturday would try them under its own laws.
    
"The arrests are being made for our own investigation... and even if allegations are proved against any suspect, he will not be handed over to India," Qureshi said after Eid prayers in his hometown Multan.
    
Restrictions were imposed on Azhar's movements and he was confined to his Bahawalpur home, which was ringed by security personnel, Dawn News channel quoted sources in the interior ministry as saying.
    
Masood's organisation is widely believed to have close links with other major terror groups operating out of Pakistan like al-Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Toiba and runs a number of terror training camps in PoK as well as other areas of Pakistan.

The action against Masood came a day after security forces arrested key LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi, suspected to be the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, along with 20 other militants. The Pakistan Army today said the crackdown against the banned militant group will continue.
    
"More arrests are expected," an army official said adding that operations will continue till "desired results" are achieved.
    
Lakhwi, named by India as a key suspect in the terror strikes in Mumbai, was picked up when army raided an LeT camp on the outskirts of PoK capital Muzaffarabad.
    
According to reports, Lakhwi, who is being held at an undisclosed location, was quizzed today about his role, if any, in the Mumbai carnage. The top LeT commander has been identified by the sole terrorist captured alive as the master-planner of the terror attacks.
    
Troops raided five more suspected LeT camps in PoK in the past 24 hours on information given by Lakhwi
    
The US has said that Lashkar is linked to al qaeda and earlier this year Washington had blocked assets of Lakhwi and three other top commanders of the LeT, including its chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed.
    
Pakistani authorities did not formally announce the arrest or detention of Lakhwi or Masood and officials have not disclosed what they planned to do with the two.
    
India in a demarche on December 1 has demanded handing over of Masood Azhar and has also indicated it wants suspects in the Mumbai terror attacks transferred to its custody.
    
But now, the Foreign Minister said "we will proceed against those arrested under Pakistani laws".
    
Pakistan, which does not have an extradition treaty with India has proposed setting up a joint investigative commission to probe the Mumbai carnage.