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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 11 -- Pakistan on Thursday closed 11 offices of a controversial Islamic charity that has been linked to last month's deadly attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai and placed the group's leader under house arrest. In India, top government officials announced a massive revamping of the country's security infrastructure, including creation of an FBI-style national agency to investigate terror attacks.

Hafiz Sayeed, the leader of the organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa, was put under house arrest in Lahore, according to a Pakistani foreign ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The arrest was confirmed by a top Jamaat-ud-Dawa official.

Sayeed was one of four individuals singled out by the United Nations Security Council late Wednesday when it placed Jamaat-ud-Dawa on a list of designated terrorist organizations and imposed sanctions on the group, including a freeze on assets, a travel ban and an arms embargo. The U.N. also said the charity was directly linked to Lashkar-i-Taiba, the outlawed Pakistani militant group that Indian authorities blame for the three-day siege in Mumbai that killed at least 171 people, including six Americans.

"Pakistan has taken note of the designation of certain individuals and entities by the U.N.," Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani said in a statement hours before the house arrest, noting that the country would "fulfill its international obligations."

Also included in the sanctions were Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged operational commander and architect of the Mumbai attacks, and alleged Lashkar financiers Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Mahmoud Ahmed Bahaziq. Pakistani security forces arrested Lakhvi Sunday.

Before arresting Sayeed late Thursday, Pakistan shuttered nine Karachi offices of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and the group's main offices in Lahore and Muridke. Jamaat official Amir Hamza said Thursday night that 70 to 80 members of the organization were rounded up in raids that took place across the country. Hamza said Pakistani authorities had placed him and eight others on a wanted list and were preparing to arrest them.

"We are expecting to be picked up any minute," Hamza said. "We will fight our battles in court. We will not resort just to street protests. This is a great injustice."

Indian officials hailed Wednesday night's U.N. action as a long overdue step in the right direction, and called on Pakistan not to repeat a past pattern of arresting suspected extremists -- including Sayeed -- and then letting them go without standing trial..

"This only underscores what India has maintained throughout. That the forces of violence and terror, the organized groups which have attacked India on many occasions . . . pose a threat to civil world," Indian Deputy Foreign Minister Anand Sharma said.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the country's parliament that Pakistan needed to follow up on its promises of action against militant groups. "They are banning organizations. Lashkar-i-Taiba was banned. But simply they are changing names, they are changing signboards," Mukherjee said. "Faces are the same, ideology are the same. How does it help us?"

Sayeed reacted to the imposition of sanctions with a news conference at his Lahore headquarters, hours before he was placed under house arrest. He denied reports that he had met with a Mumbai attacker and said his group split from Lashkar after Pakistan banned Lashkar following a 2001 attack on India's parliament. Sayeed said Jamaat-ud-Dawa would lodge a strong protest with the U.N. and the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

"Jamaat-ud-Dawa is a thorn in the eye of India because Jamaat-ud-Dawa does not support anything which India does to Pakistan or Kashmir," Sayeed said.

Blagojevich Arrest Muddies Illinois Political Waters

The arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges has far reaching political implications. (Amanda Rivkin/AFP/Getty Images)

The news that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has been taken into custody on charges of seeking bribes in exchange for an appointment to the Senate (among other allegations) fundamentally reshapes the Illinois political landscape.

The impact of Blagojevich's arrest is far-reaching, with tentacles into the Senate, governor's mansion and the national political scene.

The most obvious fallout is in the race for the seat vacated earlier this month by President-elect Barack Obama. Under state law, Blagojevich is given total authority to replace Obama -- an authority he allegedly was using as collateral to extract concessions from those interested in the seat.

As long as Blagojevich remains governor -- and whether he will stay in office remains to be seen -- he retains the power to appoint the next senator. But, if an appointment from Blagojevich was problematic before (due to the long-running investigation into his Administration on other corruption charges) it is entirely tainted now.

According to conversations with several Chicago political sharps, the thinking now is that if Blagojevich makes the appointment, the only possible pick is a caretaker with an unimpeachable record on ethics who will hold the seat for two years and then step aside in 2010.

It's nearly impossible to imagine that anyone Blagojevich picks at this point would be able to run for a full term 2010 as they would immediately be labeled as the hand-picked choice of a scandal-tarred governor.

Given those realities, the new frontrunner for the appointment could well wind up being Secretary of State Jesse White who had been floated in the past as a safe -- and inoffensive -- pick. People like Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth may now have to turn their attention to the 2010 open seat as it seems increasingly unlikely that either of them would get (or want) an appointment from Blagojevich.

In the event Blagojevich resigns in the coming days, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, would step into the job and would be tasked with the appointment. If that happens, all bets are off and everyone is back in the mix.

In terms of the gubernatorial race, it now seems increasingly unlikely that Blagojevich will run for a third term in 2010. (Yes, we realize how insane that last sentence sounds but remember that Blagojevich was considering a reelection bid with job approval numbers in the mid teens.)

Assuming the seat is open, expect a contested primary fight between state Attorney General Lisa Madigan, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulas -- all three of whom were considering the race before today's news. Madigan had been prominently mentioned as a possible appointee to the Senate seat but apparently was far more interested in running for governor.

In terms of Blagojevich's arrest on national politics, remember that House Minority Leader John Boehner released a campaign memo earlier this week in which he makes clear that his party will push the idea of a culture of corruption within the Democratic party over the next few years.

Blagojevich, although a governor, spent six years in the House and, as a result, has ties to a number of sitting members. Expect House Republicans to use his arrest as a cudgel against their Democratic colleagues over the coming weeks.

This is a developing story with all sorts of twists and turns. We'll be following it closely. Stay tuned.

FBI agents this morning arrested Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich (D) and his chief of staff on conspiracy and bribery charges, including allegations that the governor was seeking to benefit financially from his appointment of a successor to the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

The arrest of Blagojevich, 51, and his top aide, John Harris, 46, capped a lengthy investigation into public corruption at the highest levels of state government.

The two men will appear in a federal courthouse in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. Central time before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan in the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald and FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Grant held a news conference at 11 a.m. in Chicago to provide details on the case.

"This is a sad day for government. It's a very sad day for Illinois government," Fitzgerald said at the news conference. "Governor Blagojevich has taken us to a new low . . . he attempted to sell the Senate seat, the Senate seat he had the sole right to appoint to replace President-elect Obama . . . The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."