Pakistan rounded up dozens of Islamic activists, including a militant leader, in raids across the country after three outlawed militant outfits that had regrouped under new names were banned, police said on Sunday.
A police official told Reuters that Sajid Ali Naqvi -- head of one of the now banned groups, Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan, and accused of involvement in sectarian violence -- was picked up in an overnight swoop in the capital Islamabad.
The authorities also raided mosques, homes and militant bases across Pakistan early on Sunday, picking up dozens of Islamic militants, another police official in the central city of Multan added.
Pakistan, a staunch ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, banned the renamed militant groups on Saturday, two days after U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell expressed concern over the re-emergence of these organizations.
The new orders ban Khudam-ul Islam, formerly Jaish-e-Mohammad, which has been fighting Indian rule in the disputed Kashmir region.
Relations between the nuclear-armed rivals have thawed but India refuses to resume peace talks unless Pakistan rein in Islamic militants from crossing into Indian-held Kashmir.
The government has also outlawed the radical Sunni Muslim Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, which has regrouped as Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, and rival Shi'ite Muslim Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan or Islami Tehrik-e-Pakistan.
Maulana Mohammad Ahmed Ludhanvi, a leader of Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan, told Reuters in Multan city that more than 50 activists from the party had been detained in overnight raids in Sindh and Punjab.
Also in Multan, 440 km (275 miles) south of Islamabad, hundreds of angry Shi'ite Muslim protested the arrest of Naqvi. ``Al-jihad, Al-jihad (holy war),'' the crowed shouted. ``We will continue our struggle until the release of our leader.''
Protesters, mostly young Shi'ite Muslims, chanting slogans such as ``Down with America'' and ``Down withMusharraf'' as they marched through the streets of the city. They also demanded immediate release of Naqvi.
Last year, Musharraf banned five militant groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and an assault on Indian parliament.
India blamed Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba for the December 2001 attack on its parliament. Jamaat-ud-Dawa, formed shortly before the banning of Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been put on a ``watch list.''
Outlawed militant groups in Pakistan have been blamed for a spate of attacks on Western targets, as well as sectarian violence between Pakistan's main Sunni Muslim sect and minority Shi'ites.