Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba sanctioned by the UN Security Council, is not serving a sentence in jail, but at his home in Johar Town in Lahore from where he runs the terror group, according to people familiar with him. affair.
Saeed was formally placed under arrest in July 2019, months before he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail in a terrorist financing case in February this year that was described by the United States as an “important step forward.” . Last week, Saeed received another series of jail terms in two more terrorist financing cases.
Hafiz Saeed’s arrest and subsequent conviction have been seen as an effort by the Imran Khan government to stay off the Financial Action Task Force’s ‘blacklist’ that could involve extensive economic sanctions and, as Prime Minister Imran once said Khan, destroy the Pakistani economy. .
But Indian intelligence information accessed by the Hindustan Times indicates that Hafiz Saeed is not in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat high-security prison, as had been widely publicized. “He is mostly at home … apparently in protective custody that even allows him to receive guests,” said an intelligence official.
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Last month, according to intelligence information, Saeed’s visitor at home was Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the chief operational commander and the head of LeT’s jihad wing. The meeting is known to have focused on some steps they needed to take to raise funds for the jihad.
Like Saeed, Lakhvi is also a UNSC designated terrorist and is the main conspirator in the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 11/26. He has been arrested more than once by the Pakistani security forces for terrorism under international pressure, but like his boss Hafiz Saeed, he has always been released due to lack of evidence. Indian officials said it was Lakhvi who persuaded, guided and managed Pakistani-born US citizen David Headley for reconnaissance missions in India prior to the 11/26 attacks.
Pakistani observers in New Delhi said that intelligence that Hafiz Saeed was not being held in prison was in line with a pattern about Islamabad’s record of dealing with terrorists. One of them admitted that they were initially shocked when Hafiz Saeed was convicted for the first time in 10 years and six months and had tentatively interpreted it to indicate that Saeed had outlived his usefulness to the deep state of Pakistan. Saeed had been arrested multiple times since the September 11 attacks, but was always released after the pressure eased.
Indian officials said they were not yet clear on how Pakistan had handled the paperwork regarding Hafiz Saeed’s custody.
“Our understanding based on the information available is that this may be an informal arrangement. We do not know if there is a formal order notifying Hafiz Saeed’s house as a prison, ”the intelligence official quoted above said.
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In the 12 years since 10 heavily armed terrorists arrived in Mumbai from Pakistan and opened fire in various locations on November 26, Islamabad, despite its many promises, has not investigated or taken any real action against the Lashkar terrorists. e-Taiba who planned the attacks together with military officers serving in the Pakistan Intelligence Service.
In total, 170 people, apart from the 4 sailors from a trawler ‘MV Kuber’ hijacked by terrorists, were killed and 304 injured in the simultaneous attacks by terrorists on Mumbai Taj Mahal hotel, Oberoi Trident hotel, terminal Chhatrapati Shivaji, Bed. Hospital, Chabad House, Albless Hospital, near Metro Cinema and Leopold Cafe area.
Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive, faced trial and was sentenced to death in May 2010. He was finally executed in Pune’s Yerwada Prison on November 21, 2012.
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But terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi who planned and coordinated the attacks together with Pakistani military officials have gone unpunished.
It was this reliance on the deep state of Pakistan, Pakistani watchers said, that Saeed had mocked the United States when he first announced the $ 10 million reward for his whereabouts in 2012. “I am ready to send information about myself. location on a daily basis, ”said a cheeky Hafiz Saeed at a press conference shortly after, asking the United States to send him the money.
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