PAKISTAN ARRESTS ACCUSED MASTERMIND OF MUMBAI ATTACKS
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan
authorities on Wednesday arrested Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of a
four-day militant attack on the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, on terror
finance charges, a spokesman for the chief minister of Punjab province said.
The arrest came days before a visit to
Washington by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has vowed to crack down on
militant groups operating in Pakistan.
Saeed designated a terrorist by the United
States and the United Nations is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or Army
of the Pure, the militant group blamed by the United States and India for the
Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 160 people.
He has denied any involvement and said his
network, which includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing
house and ambulance services has no ties to militant groups.
A spokesman for Punjab Governor Shahbaz
Gill said Saeed was arrested near the town of Gujranwala in central Pakistan.
"The main charge is that he is
gathering funds for banned outfits, which is illegal," the spokesman said.
The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department
said in a statement that Saeed had been arrested while going to a court in
Gujranwala to seek pre-arrest bail but was remanded in custody.
Pakistan, which is included in a so-called
grey list compiled by the Financial Action Task Force, a money laundering and
terror finance watchdog has been under increasing pressure to stop the
financing of militant groups.
However, an Indian government official said
that merely arresting Saeed was not enough and that he should be put on trial
and convicted.
"We want real action, not these kinds
of steps that are reversible. One court orders his arrest, another frees
him," said the official, who has close knowledge of diplomatic issues with
Pakistan.
He said the sense in New Delhi was that
Pakistan was taking steps such as these before Khan's trip to the United
States, which has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to
Saeed's conviction over the Mumbai attacks.
"We have seen this before," the
official said. "After the visit is over, things are usually back to what
they were before."
In 2017, Saeed was put under house arrest
by Pakistani authorities and subsequently released after being cleared of
charges against him, drawing strong criticism from Washington and New Delhi.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, designated as a Foreign
Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department, aims to drive India out of
the disputed region of Kashmir and establish an Islamic state across Kashmir,
Pakistan, and India.
(Additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani in
NEW DELHI; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie)
Source: The Star Online- 17 July 2019
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