LAHORE, Pakistan, July 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistani authorities Wednesday
detained the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a security
official said, as the country faces increased pressure to crack down on
militants operating on its soil.
Firebrand cleric Hafiz Saeed — declared a global terrorist by the US and
UN, and who has a $10 million US bounty on his head — was taken into custody
following a raid by counter-terrorism forces in the eastern city of
Gujranwala.
“Hafiz Saeed was going to Gujranwala to apply for bail in another case
when he was arrested,” said a security official with knowledge of the arrest,
who requested anonymity.
A spokesman for Saeed’s group, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), a wing of the
militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), confirmed the arrest to AFP, but
gave no further details.
Another security official said the arrest relates to terror financing
charges.
Saeed has spent years rotating in and out of varying forms of detention,
sometimes under house arrest, sometimes briefly arrested then released again
by authorities.
But for the most part he has been free to move at will around Pakistan,
enraging India which has repeatedly called for his prosecution over his
alleged role in the 2008 attack that killed more than 160 people.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is accused by India and Washington of masterminding the
four-day assault on Mumbai. Saeed has denied involvement.
The move against Saeed comes as Pakistan is facing a potential
blacklisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — an anti-money-
laundering monitor based in Paris — for failing to do enough to combat
terror financing.
FATF is set rule on its fate in the coming months after placing the
country on a watchlist last year.
In February, Pakistani authorities banned Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa and
Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation — charities that have long been considered
fronts for militant activity targeting India.
Washington and New Delhi have long urged Pakistan to take action against
LeT, which was banned by Islamabad in 2002 but re-branded itself as JuD and
FIF.
And earlier this year, Pakistan arrested more than 100 suspected militants
and shuttered hundreds of religious schools.
The arrests came during an ongoing crackdown on extremists, following
clashes with India after a Pakistan-based group killed dozens of Indian
security forces in a suicide bombing in Kashmir.