...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
chief blamed for Mumbai attacks tells Al Jizz his opposition to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
supply lines led to $10m bounty.
Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
, the leader of a Pakistain-based group blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, has demanded proof after the US announced a $10m bounty on his head.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jizz, Saeed said the US move was prompted by the fact that he had been organising rallies against the re-opening of supply lines through Pakistain to NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us," Saeed said. "I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of NATO supplies and drone strikes.Â
"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".
US Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, on a visit to India, said a $2m bounty had also been announced for Abdul Rahman Makki, Saeed's brother-in-law and the group's second-in-command.
Rewards for Justice, a programme sponsored by the US State Department, announced the cash reward for the 62-year-old Saeed on its website.
"Saeed is suspected of criminal masterminding numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six American citizens," the page said.
Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is
banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT), designated as a terrorist organization by the US in December 2001, is accused by India of carrying out several attacks besides the one on Mumbai.
LeT is the military wing of Saeed's larger organization, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is also blacklisted by the US.
Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman involved in the three-day rampage in November 2008, has been sentenced to death by an Indian court.
Kasab accused Saeed of organising the attack, which involved 10 gunnies, nine of whom were killed during the shootout.
'Popular man'
India welcomed the move as a reflection of the commitment by India and the US "to bring perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks" to justice.
"[The bounty] sends a strong signal to Lashkar-e-Taiba as also its members and patrons that the international community remains united in combating terrorism," Syed Akbaruddin, front man for India's ministry of external affairs said on Twitter.
Al Jizz's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Lahore, where Saeed is believed to be based, said Pakistain was pressured to ban Saeed's organizations after the US invasion of Afghanistan. .
"He started a foundation, and his men played a key role in aid efforts after earthquake in Kashmire, and the floods in Pakistain. They still are the main frontline in any calamity. He has denied that he has any links to militancy," our correspondent said.
"A man who is popular across the country -Â it's not going to go down very well. It is also symbolic that the annoucment came in India, by a high-ranking US diplomat. That will be an irritant."
Sreeram Chaulia, a professor at India's Jindal School of International Affairs, said Saeed was "intrinsically linked" to Pakistain's spy agency.
"The Pakistain establishment will not hand him over for the bounty, and any private citizen who tries to make cash through tipping off the Americans will be targeted," Chaulia told the AFP news agency.
"I don't think extradition is any possibility," Ayesha Siddiqa, an Islamabad-based defence analyst, told Al Jizz. "Basically, the watch list doesn't mean anything. [Saeed] is just one of many people being watched."
The announcement comes as
Asif Ali President Ten PercentZardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
, Pakistain's president, is due to visit India for the first time since the attacks in Mumbai.
The bounty on Saeed, equivalent to that on Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title
Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
, is second only to the $25m bounty on Ayman al
Zawahiri... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as
the real brains of the outfit.Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
, who succeeded the late Osama bin Laden
... who was laid out deader than a mackerel...
as the al-Qaeda chief.
Saeed is the fifth Pak national on the list.