Outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat leader Ahmed Ludhianvi played a cat-and-mouse game for almost six hours with the police and paramilitary forces who were trying to prevent them from entering the Pakistani capital.
An alliance of religious and extremist groups on Saturday said Pakistan should settle the Kashmir issue and differences over sharing river water before it normalises trade relations with India and gives it Most Favoured Nation-status. The Defence of Pakistan Council, which includes the Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat, made the demand in a joint declaration adopted at a meeting of the top leaders of the various groups.
Eleven people died in sectarian violence in Pakistan's largest city today, taking the overall death toll in two days to 18 as unrest spiralled out of control on the eve of the Islamic holy month of Muharram.
A Pakistani court has rejected the bail application of Malik Ishaq, chief of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that has been blamed for a series of attacks on the Shia minority.
Other blasphemy cases were also registered against them in various cities, including Karachi and Islamabad.
Pakistan has failed to take concrete action to keep a lid on banned militant outfits like Hafiz Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad which continuously resurface under new names challenging the government's authority, a media report said on Wednesday.