26/11 Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed arrested by CTD in Pakistan

The Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was arrested in Gujranwala on Wednesday. The terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed also is the Jammaat ud-Dawa chief.

The Counter Terrorism Department arrested Saeed got arrested while he was travelling to Gujranwala from Lahore. Saeed was going to appear before an anti-terrorism court.

Jammaat ud-Dawa spokesperson has confirmed the arrest of the chief. The spokesperson also adds that the charges the terrorist chief is going to face are still unknown but this is also speculated that the charged to be put on him will mostly be linked to terrorism financing.

Reportedly, it was just on Monday when Hafiz Saeed and three of his aides had received a pre-arrest bail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. They received the pre-arrest bail in connection to JuD’s illegal use of land for a seminary. It was in this connection that the JuD chief was travelling to Lahore and end up getting arrested by the CTD.

It was last week only when a crackdown on terror financing by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) along with its front organizations was announced by the Pakistani authorities. The authorities had registered cases against Hafiz Saeed and 12 of his aides.

Saeed Hafiz also happens to be one of the most wanted terror chiefs of the world and the United States has announced a bounty of $10 million on Saeed.

The Indian government, however, is not satisfied with the claims made by Pakistan. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar says, “Let us not get fooled by these cosmetic steps. We have seen the course of such convictions in the past.”

The Jammaat ud-Dawa is responsible for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Being the chief of the front group, Saeed is directly responsible for the terror attack in India. It is for his connections with terrorism that the US treasury department declared Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. An award of $10 million was also being declared for any information about him. Notably, when Saeed was released from house arrest in 2017, Washington had warned Islamabad of “repercussions” as well.

Also read: India Will Be Watching If Pakistan Is Sincere In Its Crackdown Against Hafiz Saeed