The Lahore High Court's decision to free Hafiz Mohammed Saeed from house arrest came as tensions are spiking in Pakistan's northwest along the Afghan border.

India, which said the ruling was confirmation that Pakistan is not serious about bringing militants to justice, has demanded that Islamabad vigorously pursue those behind the November siege of its commercial capital that killed 166 people and left nine of 10 gunmen dead. The survivor, Pakistani Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was captured and is on trial in India.

Saeed was among several suspects taken into custody in December in Pakistan, which came under tremendous pressure from the United States and other governments to investigate domestic links to the attacks.

The 59-year-old cleric created Lashkar-e-Taiba in the late 1980s to fight Indian rule in Kashmir, the mostly Muslim Himalayan region claimed by both South Asian countries. Indian prosecutors allege the group masterminded the Mumbai attacks.

The group, which is believed to have supporters within Pakistan's intelligence agency, was banned by Pakistan in a security clampdown that followed the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

Washington lists it as a terrorist organisation.

But the group re-emerged as Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which Saeed says is a charity with no links to terrorism. After the Mumbai attacks, the United Nations listed Jamat-ud-Dawa as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, prompting Pakistan to freeze the group's assets and put its leaders under house arrest.

Pakistan has not publicly announced any indictment or charge against Saeed, and it is unclear what role he is suspected of playing in the Mumbai attacks. The public prosecutor in India's case against Kasab case, however, has asked the court to issue a warrant for him.

Saeed challenged his detention in court, and lawyer AK Dogar emerged from a hearing on Tuesday and said a three-judge panel had decided the detention was 'against the law and constitution of the country.' -- AP