[Designated a terrorist by the United States, Saeed was the leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that carried out a four-day coordinated terrorist assault across Mumbai, killing at least 160 people in India’s commercial capital.]
By
Haq Nawaz Khan and Jon Gerberg
 |
|
Hafiz
Saeed waves to supporters as he leaves court in Lahore, Pakistan,
in
2017. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
|
PESHAWAR,
Pakistan — Pakistani
authorities on Wednesday arrested Hafiz Saeed, the accused mastermind of
devastating 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, police said.
Designated a terrorist by the United States,
Saeed was the leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group that carried out a
four-day coordinated terrorist assault across Mumbai, killing at least 160
people in India’s commercial capital.
Saeed later said he left the group and
founded Jammat-ud-Dawa, which he called a charity. The organization has been
accused of acting as a front to fund militant activities.
In 2012, the United States offered $10
million for information leading to Saeed’s arrest, and two years later it
formally named the charity as a terrorist group.
Analysts see Saeed’s detention as a major
move ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first official visit to the
United States. Khan is scheduled to meet with President Trump on Monday.
In Washington, Trump welcomed the arrest. In
one of several tweets on various topics Wednesday morning, Trump wrote: “After
a ten year search, the so-called ‘mastermind’ of the Mumbai Terror attacks has
been arrested in Pakistan. Great pressure has been exerted over the last two
years to find him!”
Contrary to Trump’s characterization of a
prolonged “search,” however, Pakistani authorities have been aware of Saeed’s
whereabouts for years. In fact, his political party participated in national
elections last year, and he was photographed casting his ballot. In a 2012 news
conference in a hotel near the Pakistani army headquarters, he also publicly mocked
the U.S. bounty on his head.
“Here I am in front of everyone, not hiding
in a cave,” Saeed declared. He said of the $10 million U.S. reward: “Why don’t
they give it to me? I can tell them my whereabouts on a daily basis.”
Trump and Khan have traded barbs in the past.
On Twitter last year, Trump accused Pakistan of taking billions of dollars from
the United States without doing enough to address terrorism. Khan countered
what he called “Trump’s tirade against Pakistan” by stressing that his country
was an important ally that has made great sacrifices in the United States’ war
on terrorism.
U.S.-Pakistan ties were tested in 2011 when
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was located by the CIA in a compound in
Abbottabad, Pakistan, just miles from the country’s elite military academy.
After living safely in the compound for years, bin Laden was killed in a raid
by U.S. Navy SEALs, an operation that was kept secret from Pakistani
authorities until it was completed.
The White House counterterrorism adviser at
the time, John O. Brennan, said it was “inconceivable” that bin Laden had not
received support from within Pakistan.
As prime minister, Khan has promised to crack
down on banned militant groups within his borders, but Pakistan remains on a
watch list for allegedly sponsoring militant organizations.
One Indian government official sounded a note
of skepticism about the arrest of Saeed. “This is not the first time that such
action has been taken,” the official said, speaking on the condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Pakistan has
made arrests related to terrorism attacks in India in the past, but the
suspects “have been allowed to walk free after some time.”
The official added that Pakistan was
attempting to deflect criticism ahead of the prime minister’s visit to the
United States. India wants to see “credible, verifiable, irreversible”
progress, “not a cosmetic step to only impress the international community,”
the Indian official said.
Despite the charges against him, Saeed
maintains a loyal following inside Pakistan, especially in his home city of
Lahore. His followers regard him as a fearless Islamic fundamentalist.
Saeed’s spokesman, Nadim Awan, denounced the
arrest and said the cleric dissociated himself from Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2001 and
has had no links with the organization since then, the Associated Press
reported. Lashker-e-Taiba was banned in 2002.
Awan said Saeed’s arrest would be challenged
in a higher court.
Militant organizations inside Pakistan have
often been tolerated — and have claimed a degree of popular support — for their
role in the country’s proxy war against archrival India.
Saeed had been detained repeatedly in
Pakistan but released each time. In general, courts have appeared reluctant to
prosecute members of militant groups, often releasing them on technicalities or
for alleged lack of evidence.
Saeed was arrested in 2017 and placed under
house arrest. His followers at the time said the action was taken to appease
the newly inaugurated Trump administration, which had just declared a ban on
visitors from seven other Muslim-majority countries. Saeed was later freed.
On Wednesday, Saeed was traveling from Lahore
to the eastern city of Gujranwala to post pre-arrest bail in connection with
another set of terrorism charges when he was stopped by counterterrorism
officials and taken into custody, according a police statement.
He was charged with financing terrorist
organizations and using charitable donations for his own personal enrichment.
Gerberg reported from Kabul. Joanna Slater in
New Delhi and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.
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