Pakistan police have detained a militant leader wanted by India and who was earlier roped in by authorities to hold talks with the slain radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi of Lal Masjid.     

Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil, chief of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen was taken into protective custody after
the death of Ghazi who was killed in the military operation in the mosque on Tuesday.

"Fazlur Rehman Khalil has been taken into protective custody at his residence-cum-madrassa in Islamabad in view of
the security situation," Daily Times quoted officials as saying.

Khalil, who figured in India's list of most wanted terrorists, was a close aide of Ghazi and used by the government negotiators to hold talks with Ghazi on Monday night.

He was taken into protective custody to avoid a backlash following Ghazi's death, they said.

They said Farooq Kashmiri, another militant commander, who was called in from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, was already in the government's custody.