Pakistan releases former militant leader

Pakistan has released a former leader of a Kashmiri militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, whom India accuses of the attack against its parliament in December last year.

The man, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, was set free after a court in Lahore turned down a government request to extend his detention.

He had been held in detention for three months without charge.

Mr Saeed was arrested after Pakistan outlawed two militant groups following increasing international pressure to rein in extremist organisations in the country.

The December attack on India's parliament - in which fourteen people were killed - triggered an escalation of tension between India and Pakistan, with both countries deploying up to a million troops along their common border.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service