BAHAWALPUR, Dec 26: Around 25 activists of different jihadi organizations were rounded up in a pre-dawn crackdown on their offices in the Bahawalpur district.

Dawn learnt on Wednesday that police had launched the crackdown to arrest Jaish-i-Muhammad chief (now Al-Furqan) Maulana Masood Azhar.

It may be mentioned that BBC Urdu service had already broadcast the news of his detention in its bulletin on Wednesday morning.

Police sources told this correspondent that a raid was conducted on the Maulana’s house in Kausar Colony on Tuesday night, but he was not found.

They said on Tuesday night Maulana Azhar was in Sukkur from where he set off for Bahawalpur by road, but could not reach here by 4pm on Wednesday.

Some police officials on the condition of anonymity confirmed that police had arrested his brother, Abdur Raoof, and two Jaish activists — Ghulam Husain and Akram Aziz.

Commenting on the foreign media reports about the arrest of Maulana Azhar, they said police of some other part of the country might have arrested him.

It is learnt that action against Maulana Azhar is being taken at the beck and call of the US government after India’s unproven charges against the Jaish-i-Muhammad for attacking Indian parliament on Dec 13.

Similar action is also expected against former Lashkar-i-Tayyaba chief Prof Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

HEROIN ADDICTS: The death of four heroin addicts in local graveyards was confirmed here on Wednesday.