NEW DELHI : 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan’s Punjab Police on Wednesday in connection with terror financing case, the country’s media reported. The arrest comes days before Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s bilateral visit to the United States.
The Imran Khan government has been under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to act against terror outfits and terrorists operating out of Pakistan.
Hafiz Saeed, the globally listed terrorist, was on his way to Gujranwala from Lahore when he was intercepted by the authorities. The co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the chief of proscribed outfit Jama’at-ud-Da’wah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) will now be sent to judicial remand. The US has announced a bounty of $10 million for providing evidence leading to his conviction.
Earlier, Pakistan counter-terrorism department said it had registered 23 cases against Hafiz Saeed and 23 others for using five trusts to “raise funds for terrorism financing”.
It said that funds collected by Hafiz Saeed and his accomplices through trusts were used to finance the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out terror strikes including 2008 Mumbai attack in India. More than 165 people had died in Mumbai terror attacks when 10 Pakistani gunmen opened fire at multiple locations in the city.
The Indian Government But India has rejected actions by Islamabad with a source in the government telling media sources that “We have seen this ‘action’ before. Important that it is irreversible and verifiable.”
Saeed had challenged the terror financing cases lodged against him in the Lahore High Court (LHC), adding that he Saeed has no relation with LeT, Al-Qaeda or any other similar the banned organisations.
New Delhi has been asked Islamabad to take credible, verifiable, irreversible & sustainable measures on terror groups and financing of terror from any territory under its control.