In a recent court decision, a Pakistani court ordered Hafiz Saeed, the head of Islamist Terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, who was responsible for the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2011, to spend 32 years in jail.
The Pakistan anti-terrorism court has sentenced Hafiz Saeed to 32 years of imprisonment in two terror financing cases. Earlier, Saeed had been summoned for 36 years in five such cases by the Pakistani court. Hafiz Saeed is imprisoned for 2 more cases. So, Hafiz Saeed, 70, will be imprisoned in Pakistan for 68 years. His lawyer confirmed that Saeed might not have to spend such a long time in jail. His sentence will run concurrently.
The Anti-Terror Court (ATC) judge, Ejaz Ahmad Bhuttar, has punished him in two cases. He has been summoned for 21/19 and 99/21, in which he received 15.5 years and 16.5 years of punishment, respectively. Further, the court has also imposed a fine of PKR 340,000 on him.
Who is Hafiz Saeed?
The Pakistani Islamic terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, is the co-founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group. He is also the current chief of the Jama’at-ul-Da’wah organization.
Saeed is accused of planning the terror attack on Mumbai on 26/11 that killed 166 people, among whom 6 were Americans. In 2012, the United States put a $10 million bounty on Saeed because it found him to be responsible for the attacks.
Pakistan is accused of providing a safe haven for him and other terrorists like him. Later in 2019, he was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in a different case of terror financing.
Saeed is enlisted as one of the NIA’s most wanted criminals. Further, the United Nations has also designated him as a global terrorist due to the Mumbai attacks. Along with India, the US, the UK, the European Union, Russia, and Australia have also banned his terrorist organization, LeT.
Why did Pakistan arrest Hafiz Saeed?
Shortly after the Mumbai terror attacks, the UN declared Hafiz Saeed a global terrorist. India, on the other hand, has been continuously demanding Pakistan to hand over the culprit behind India’s worst terrorist attack. These terrorists find a safe haven in Pakistan and live their lives lavishly there.
But the global terror financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), is keeping a close eye on these personalities in Pakistan. The Paris-based organisation has blacklisted Pakistan for the same reasons. Pakistan was attempting to avoid these accusations with the assistance of allies such as China, Turkey, and Malaysia. Now, it is hard for its allies too due to its continuous failure to comply with the FATF conditions.
Pakistan has been on the grey list of the FATF since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, which is used in terror financing. The FATF strictly commanded Pakistan to complete the given conditions by October 2019.
Published By : Revathy G Sanal
Edited By : Subbuthai Padma
