A Pakistani court has directed authorities to respond within a week to a petition by Lashar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed's wife challenging his detention in the wake of the Mumbai [Images] terror strikes.

Justice Khurshid Anwar Bhinder of the Lahore [Images] High Court disposed of Maimoona Saeed's petition on Wednesday and issued a direction to the Home Secretary of Punjab province to respond within a week to her plea that Saeed's detention was not in accordance with legal requirements.

The judge also said the authorities would face contempt of court proceedings if they failed to respond to the plea. Maimoona claimed in her petition that the government had detained her husband only to please the US and India. She claimed the government had also not given any valid reason for his detention. Saeed was put under house arrest along with other leaders of the LeT and its front organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, in December last year after the UN Security Council declared the JuD a terrorist group and imposed restrictions on four terrorist leaders.

Maimoona claimed in her petition that Lahore's District Coordination Officer issued a detention order for Saeed on  December 12 last year with a note that the reasons for his detention would be given later.