- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Radhakrishna N S
A COURT in Pakistan on Wednesday (24) remanded to custody Hafiz Saeed, accused of masterminding a four-day attack on India’s financial capital in 2008, after a hearing following his arrest last week on terrorism financing charges, his lawyer said.
Saeed’s arrest came just ahead of a visit to Washington by prime minister Imran Khan and was widely seen as a move by the Islamabad government to smoothe the way before a meeting with US president Donald Trump.
The US has offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to the conviction of Saeed, who has been arrested and released several times over the past decade.
On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism court in Gujranwala, near the eastern city of Lahore, remanded Saeed to custody for 14 days while counter-terrorism officials complete investigations, the lawyer, Imran Fazal, said.
The US officials have long pressured Pakistan to try Saeed, who is designated a terrorist by the US and the UN.
He is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of the Pure, a militant group blamed by the US and India for the attacks that killed more than 160 people.
He has denied any involvement and said his network, which spans 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services, has no ties to militant groups.
(Reuters)
