Under intense international pressure to crack down on militant organisations on its soil in the wake of last month's deadly attacks, Islamabad has focused on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, shuttering offices across the country.

Pakistan late Thursday placed the charity's leader Hafiz Saeed under house arrest and ordered its assets frozen after the United Nations listed it as a terror group.

Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said Friday the government had no choice but to act on the UN ruling.

"We can fight our enemies but not the whole world," he told journalists as he greeted Pakistanis returning from the annual hajj pilgrimage at the main airport in Islamabad.

"We will not allow anybody to destabilise the country. Had we not implemented the resolution wwould have been declared a terrorist state."

In the eastern city of Lahore, where Jamaat-ud-Dawa is based, thousands of worshippers attended Friday prayers at a mosque run by the charity, and many condemned the decision to cut off what they said was vital relief work.

The prayers were led by Se aeed's son, who said there was "no moral or legal justification" for shutting the charity down and said it would mount a legal challenge to the ban.

"Dawa was doing welfare work across Pakistan, but the relief work has been stopped," Mohammad Talha Saeed told the congregation.

Worshipper Muhammad Shoaid, 24, said: "I do not understand why the government has stopped the blood bank services, the relief and free health services.

"The Pakistani government should take a good look at Jamaat's relief and rehabilitation work and then allow it to continue."

Hundreds of people rallied outside the UN office in Pakistani Kashmir Friday, chanting anti-US and anti-Indian slogans to protest against the decision to list the charity as a front for militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

India says LeT planned the attacks on its financial capital that left 172 dead, including nine gunmen.

The strikes on Mumbai have severely strained relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours but India, which has fought three wars with Pakistan since independence from Britain, has ruled out military action.

In Mumbai, tens of thousands of people joined hands in a show of solidarity Friday to symbolise their unity and resilience following the devastating attacks.

Organisers claimed that between 85,000 and 100,000 people linked up in human chains, including outside the Taj Mahal and Oberoi/Trident hotels and the main railway station, which were all hit by Islamist militants.

"The key purpose was to send a message that out of this despair and anguish citizens are going through... we are united, we want peace and nobody can create any wedge or difference to divide us," said Dolphy D'Souza, president of the Bombay Catholic Sabha (community). "We are Indians first and last."

One of Pakistan's biggest charities, Jamaat-ud-Dawa is known across the country for its earthquake relief work.

But it is also widely viewed as the political wing of LeT, outlawed in Pakistan after India accused it of mounting an attack on its parliament in New Delhi in 2001.

Before he was placed under house arrest, Saeed denounced the UN decision, saying Jamaat-ud-Dawa was a legitimate organisation with no links to terrorism.

Meanwhile, the sole surviving gunman from the attacks, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman, was in custody where he faces charges including "making war against the country" and murder, according to Mumbai police.

Iman, identified by Indian authorities as a Pakistani national, was one of 10 heavily armed Islamist militants who attacked targets across India's business capital.

The United States views Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which operates out of a sprawling headquarters near Lahore, as a terrorist group.

On Sunday, Pakistani troops raided a camp operated by the charity in Kashmir and arrested 15 people, kicking off a military crackdown on militants in the country.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said authorities have arrested two senior LeT members -- Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, both named in India as suspected planners of the Mumbai attacks.

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