Examiner
Robert Tilford
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed founded the violent extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which in the 1990s sent Islamist militants to fight Indian troops in Kashmir, and is blamed by US and Indian officials for organizing the 2008 attacks on tourists and commuters in India's commercial capital. As such the US has offered a $10m (£6m) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Pakistani radical blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed.
The move is seen as a affront to Pakistan's security establishment, which has a close relationship with Saeed.
The US state department's Rewards for Justice program also announced a lesser reward of $2m reward for Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Saeed's brother-in-law and the group's second-in-command.
The rewards were announced by Wendy Sherman, US under secretary of state for political affairs, in a meeting with the Indian foreign secretary, Ranjan Mathai, on Monday in a move that is sure to upset officials in Paksitan.
ONE HAND WASHES ANOTHER
Sherman is visiting India to broker support for US sanctions against the nation of Iran – India is a significant customer for Tehran's oil so the move to comply with US wishes will cost India in the form of higher oil and gas prices. The Indian ministry of external affairs said Delhi "sincerely appreciated" the move against Saeed, that could greatly complicate already fraught US relations with Pakistan.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Saeed said the US move came after he organized rallies against the reopening of military supply lines through Pakistan to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
He denied having links to the Mumbai attacks.
"We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us. I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes," he said.
"I believe either the US has very little knowledge and is basing its decisions on wrong information being provided by India or they are just frustrated."
Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, a spokesman for Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the political wing of LeT, which stands for Laskar e- Tibia said the announcement was "an onslaught on Islam and Muslims".
He told the Guardian newspaper : "The world knows that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki … are the mainstream religious and political leaders of the country.
Robert Tilford
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| Hafiz Muhammad Saeed |
The move is seen as a affront to Pakistan's security establishment, which has a close relationship with Saeed.
The US state department's Rewards for Justice program also announced a lesser reward of $2m reward for Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, Saeed's brother-in-law and the group's second-in-command.
The rewards were announced by Wendy Sherman, US under secretary of state for political affairs, in a meeting with the Indian foreign secretary, Ranjan Mathai, on Monday in a move that is sure to upset officials in Paksitan.
ONE HAND WASHES ANOTHER
Sherman is visiting India to broker support for US sanctions against the nation of Iran – India is a significant customer for Tehran's oil so the move to comply with US wishes will cost India in the form of higher oil and gas prices. The Indian ministry of external affairs said Delhi "sincerely appreciated" the move against Saeed, that could greatly complicate already fraught US relations with Pakistan.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Saeed said the US move came after he organized rallies against the reopening of military supply lines through Pakistan to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
He denied having links to the Mumbai attacks.
"We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us. I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes," he said.
"I believe either the US has very little knowledge and is basing its decisions on wrong information being provided by India or they are just frustrated."
Muhammad Yahya Mujahid, a spokesman for Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the political wing of LeT, which stands for Laskar e- Tibia said the announcement was "an onslaught on Islam and Muslims".
He told the Guardian newspaper : "The world knows that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki … are the mainstream religious and political leaders of the country.
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