Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ( ur, , born 5 June 1950) is a Pakistani Islamist who co-founded Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based Islamist militant organization that is designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations Security Council, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and Russia. He is listed on India's NIA Most Wanted. In April 2012, the United States placed a bounty of US$10 million on Saeed for his role in the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...

that killed 166 civilians. While India officially supported the American move, there were protests against it in Pakistan. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he was designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the Security Council. He is also listed on the United States Department of the Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. India has demanded that Saeed be handed over into Indian custody by Pakistan; however, there is no extradition agreement between the two countries. Saeed has denied ever being a leader of LeT and has said all allegations that he planned attacks in India are baseless. In July 2019, three months before the scheduled reviewal of Pakistan's action plan by the Financial Action Task Force, Saeed was arrested by Pakistani authorities and sentenced to an 11-year prison sentence. In early April 2022, he was sentenced an additional 31 years for terror financing.

Early life

Saeed was born in Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. As told by him, his father, Maulana Kamal-ud-Din, a religious scholar, landlord and farmer, along with his family started migrating from East Punjab and reached Pakistan in around four months in the autumn of 1947. The family is of Gujjar background and three of his brothers, Hafiz Hamid, Hafiz Mastodon and Hafiz Hannan, are involved in Islamic activism as well, having previously run Islamic centres in Boston in the United States. He was named '' hafiz'' because he memorized the Qur'an during his childhood, a time during which he was already enthusiastic about the verses on jihad. He then attended the Government College Sargodha (now University of Sargodha) before getting a Master's in Islamic Studies at the King Saud University in Riyadh. A major early influence on his life and ideology was his maternal uncle, and later father-in-law, Hafiz Abdullah Bahawalpuri, who was a famed theologian belonging to the

Ahl-i Hadith Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...

, who held that democracy was incompatible with Islam (which alienated him with

Maulana Maududi Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the parti ...

Jamaat-e-Islami Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...

) and argued, on the importance of

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...

, "that only in jihad does one offer one's life in the way of Allah, which elevates it to a higher plane than merely fulfilling other religious responsibilities such as saying prayers and paying zakat, also entailing sacrifices and adjustments, but not at the scale evident in jihad" and "considered shahadat (martyrdom) to be the crux of jihad." Bahawalpuri's only son, Abdul Rehman Makki, is Saeed's brother-in-law and has been described as "his close partner." General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq appointed Saeed to the Council on Islamic Ideology, and he later served as an Islamic Studies teacher at the University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan. He was sent to Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s by the university for higher studies where he met Saudi sheikhs who were taking part in the Soviet–Afghan War. They inspired him in taking an active role supporting the mujahideen in Afghanistan. During his studies at the King Saud University, where he was gold medalist for his academic performances as well as taught there, he came under the influence of

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

scholars like Shaykh

Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. Biography Uthaymeen was born on ...

and especially Shaykh Ibn Baz. Saeed held two master's degrees from the University of Punjab and a specialisation in Islamic Studies and Arabic Language from King Saud University. In 1987, Saeed, along with Abdullah Azzam, founded Markaz Dawa-Wal-Irshad, a group with roots in the Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadis. This organisation spawned the jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba in 1987, with the help of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence officers. Lashkar's primary target is the Indian-administered territory of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

Family

Saeed's son Talha Saeed serves as the Lashkar-e-Taiba second-in-command. He controls the finances of Lashkar. In 2019, Talha escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb inside a refrigerator shop exploded in Lahore. According to Lashkar the bombing was attributed to the infighting in the Lashkar and R&AW.

Activities

1994

In 1994, Saeed visited the United States and "spoke at Islamic centres in Houston, Chicago and Boston".

2001–2002

Pakistan took Saeed into custody on 21 December 2001 due to an Indian government assertion that he was involved in the 13 December 2001 attack on the Lok Sabha. He was held until 31 March 2002, released, then taken back into custody on 15 May. He was placed under house arrest on 31 October 2002 after his wife Maimoona Saeed sued the province of Punjab and the Pakistan federal government for what she claimed was an illegal detention.

2006

After 11 July

2006 Mumbai train bombings The 2006 Mumbai train bombings were a series of seven bomb blasts on 11 July. They took place over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai, the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the nation's financial capital ...

, the provincial government of Punjab, Pakistan arrested him on 9 August 2006 and kept him under house arrest but he was released on 28 August 2006 after a Lahore High Court order. He was arrested again on the same day by the provincial government and was kept in the Canal Rest House in

Sheikhupura Sheikhupura ( pa, ; ur, ) also known as Qila Sheikhupura, is a city in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. Founded by the Mughal Empire, Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Jehangir in 1607, Sheikhupura is the List of most populous citie ...

. He was finally released after the Lahore High Court order on 17 October 2006.

2008–2009

After the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, India submitted a formal request to the U.N. Security Council to put the group Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Saeed on the list of individuals and organisations sanctioned by the United Nations for association with terrorism. India has accused the organisation and its leader, Saeed, of being virtually interchangeable with Lashkar-e-Taiba. India said that the close links between the organisations, as well as the 2,500 offices and 11 seminaries that Jamaat-ud-Dawa maintains in Pakistan, "are of immediate concern with regard to their efforts to mobilise and orchestrate terrorist activities."McFarquhar, Neil
India wants Pakistani group added to UN's terrorism list
''The New York Times'', 9 December 2008. On 10 December 2008, Saeed denied a link between LeT and JuD in an interview with Pakistan's Geo television stating that "no Lashkar-e-Taiba man is in Jamaat-ud-Dawa and I have never been a chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba." On 11 December 2008, Hafiz Muhammed Saeed was again placed under house arrest when the United Nations declared Jamaat-ud-Dawa to be an LeT front. Saeed was held in house arrest under the Maintenance of Public Order law, which allows authorities to detain temporarily individuals deemed likely to create disorder, until early June 2009 when the Lahore High Court, deeming the containment to be unconstitutional, ordered Saeed to be released. India quickly expressed its disappointment with the decision. On 6 July 2009, the Pakistani government filed an appeal of the court's decision. Deputy Attorney General Shah Khawar told the Associated Press that "Hafiz Saeed at liberty is a security threat." On 25 August 2009, Interpol issued a red notice against Saeed, along with Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, in response to Indian requests for his extradition. Saeed was again placed under house arrest by the Pakistani authorities in September 2009. On 12 October 2009, the Lahore High Court quashed all cases against Saeed and set him free. The court also notified that Jama'at-ud-Da'wah is not a banned organisation and can work freely in Pakistan. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, one of two judges hearing the case, observed "In the name of terrorism we cannot brutalise the law."

Indian attempts at extradition

On 11 May 2011, in an effort to place pressure on Pakistan, India publicly revealed a list of its 50 most wanted fugitives hiding in Pakistan. India believes Saeed is a fugitive, but the Indian arrest warrant had no influence in Pakistan and presently has no effect on Saeed's movements within Pakistan. Following the Lahore High Court ruling, Saeed has been moving freely around the country. For many years, India has demanded that Saeed be handed over but there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

Declaration as a terrorist by the United States

The United States declared two Lashkar-e-Tayyiba leaders—Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry and Muhammad Hussein Gill—specially designated global terrorists. The State Department also maintained LeT's designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and added the following aliases to its listing of LeT: Jama’at-ud-Dawa, Al-Anfal Trust, Tehrik-i-Hurmat-i-Rasool, and Tehrik-i-Tahafuz Qibla Awwal. The Department of Treasury said that LeT was responsible for the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai which killed nearly 200 people. The group's leader is Saeed, who is listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267.

Cooperation with Islamabad

In keeping with Pakistani establishment's wishes, Lashkar has been keeping focus on India and Saeed is among those who are thought to have helped Pakistan in capturing important

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

members like Abu Zubaydah. Senior Pakistani officials have said that Saeed is helping in de-radicalisation and rehabilitation of former extremists and that security is being provided to him because he could be targeted by militants who disapprove of Saeed's co-operation with Islamabad.

American bounty

In April 2012, the United States announced a bounty of US$10 million on Saeed, for his role in the

. Saeed stated that he had nothing to do with the Mumbai attacks and condemned them. When asked about the bounty, Saeed replied, "I am living my life in the open and the U.S. can contact me whenever they want." He subsequently stated that he was ready to face "any American court" to answer the charges and added that if Washington wanted to contact him, they knew where he was. "This is a laughable, absurd announcement. Here I am in front of everyone, not hiding in a cave," he said in a press conference. Saeed identified his leading role in the Difa-e-Pakistan Council and US attempts to placate India as reasons behind the bounty.

Arrest and trial

On 3 July 2019, 23 cases related to terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997 were registered by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan. According to CTD, JuD was financing terrorism from the funds collected by several non-profit organisations and trusts that included Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust, etc. CTD had banned these non-profit organisations in April 2019. On further investigations, CTD had found that these organisations were linked with JuD and were in touch with the top leadership of JuD. On 17 July 2019, Saeed was arrested in

Gujranwala Gujranwala ( ur, , label=none; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisala ...

by the Punjab CTD on the charges of terror financing. He was subsequently sent to the prison on judicial remand by a Gujranwala Anti Terrorism Court (ATC). On 27 September 2019, during the United Nations General Assembly, USA asked Pakistan to prosecute Saeed,

Masood Azhar Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi is a radical Islamist and terrorist, being the founder and leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, active mainly in the Pakistani-administered portion of the Kashmir region. His actions a ...

and other UN-designated terrorists. On 30 November 2019, the Government of Pakistan stated that they will prosecute Saeed. On 11 December 2019, he was indicted by the ATC in the charges of terror financing in several cities of Punjab province of Pakistan. As of December 2019, Saeed resides in the Kot Lakhpat jail also known as

Central Jail Lahore Central Jail Lahore is a prominent prison situated in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan at Rakh Chandra (Kot Lakhpat). The prison is also known as Kot Lakhpat Jail with reference to its location. The jail houses more than four times the 4000 prisoner ca ...

. He was convicted for five years by a Pakistan court for financing terrorism, in February 2020. On November 19, 2020 a Pakistani court sentenced him for 5 years in prison on terrorism-financing charges making the conviction for a total of 10 years meanwhile an anti-terrorism court in the city of Lahore on fined Saeed 110,000 rupees (about $700). On 24 December he was sentenced to 15 and a half years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan in one more terror financing case along with Rs20,000 (about $125) fine. While being in prison, Saeed's former residence in Lahore was targeted by a bomb blast on June 23, 2021, resulting in the death of three people and the wounding of 22 more. Three people were arrested for the attack. Pakistan's national security adviser

Moeed Yusuf Moeed W. Yusuf is a Pakistani national security scholar who served as the 9th National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Previously he served in the capacity of a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on National ...

said that while the three arrested were Pakistani citizens who planted the bomb, it was suspected that "India was behind the attack".

Views

Pakistani government

Saeed has criticised Pakistani leaders and has stated that they should aspire to be more like British Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

and London Mayor Boris Johnson. He had declared his admiration for the British Conservative Party along with several Tory MPs when he lodged a petition to the Lahore High Court calling for public officials in Pakistan to tone down their privileged lifestyles. According to '' The Daily Telegraph'', Saeed wrote in the petition that while Pakistan's political elite were 'living like kings and princes in palatial government houses,' Britain's prime minister lived in a 'four-bedroom flat.' He added, 'When the sun never set on the British Empire, the chief executive of that great country lived in the same house of a few marlas in a small street. That is truly Islamic, that is like following the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet.' Speaking on the issue of arrest of separatist Kashmiri leader Masarat Alam by the

government, Saeed said, "Jihad is the duty of an Islamic government... there is a government in Pakistan and it has always taken the stand that it is the right of Kashmiris to attain freedom. I say what our Army will do to secure the right of the Kashmiris is jihad... We extend help to Kashmiris alongside government ... we call this jihad." Criticising his anti-India comments, Indian Muslim leader

Asaduddin Owaisi Asaduddin Owaisi (born 13 May 1969) is an Indian politician, who is the President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). He is a 4 time Member of Parliament (MP), representing the Hyderabad constituency in Lok Sabha, the lower ...

said, "People like Hafiz Saeed are unaware about teachings of Islam, jihad in Islam. They are killing innocent lives in Pakistan, children are being killed. They are using Pakistan for maligning another country. The Government of India should take strict action against it and I condemn his comments in clear and strong words."

Indian government

In January 2013, India's then Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde released a statement on the alleged existence of Hindu terrorism as well as the existence of Hindu terror camps on Indian soil, being run and organised by the BJP and the

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

. As a result, Lashkar-e-Taiba and

Jamaat-ud-Dawa Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...

welcomed Shinde's statements and congratulated him for admitting the existence of Hindu terrorism.{{cite news , title=LeT, JuD have congratulated Sushilkumar Shinde for his claims on Hindu terror: RSS , url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_let-jud-have-congratulated-sushilkumar-shinde- In September 2014, Saeed accused India of "

water terrorism Water supply terrorism involves acts of sabotage to a water supply system, through chemical or biological warfare or infrastructural sabotage. Throughout military history and the history of terrorism, water supply attacks have been perpetrated by p ...

".{{Cite web, url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/hafiz-saeed-blames-india-for-pakistan-floods-calls-it-water-terrorism/articleshow/42116443.cms, title=Hafiz Saeed blames India for Pakistan floods, calls it 'water terrorism' | India News - Times of India, website=The Times of India Though there was flood crisis in India too, Saeed blamed India for flood crisis in Pakistan.{{cite web , url=http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-hafiz-saeed-blames-india-for-flood-in-pakistan-accuses-narendra-modi-government-of-water-terrorism-2017381 , title=Hafiz Saeed blames India for flood in Pakistan; accuses Narendra Modi government of 'water terrorism' – Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis , date=9 September 2014 In several tweets on social media he said, "Indian gov discharged water in rivers without notification & has given false information; an act of open mischief," "India has used water to attack Pakistan, We are in state of War. India's water aggression must be taken to the UN security council."{{cite web , url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/jud-chief-hafiz-saeed-says-india-flooded-pakistan-alleges-water-terrorism-1706265.html , title=JuD chief Hafiz Saeed says India flooded Pakistan, alleges 'water terrorism' – Firstpost , date=10 September 2014 Responding to a question about the nuclear warning issued by Indian authorities in

after the 2013 India–Pakistan border incidents, Saeed said that in case of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, India should distribute nuclear safety pamphlets in Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta rather than in Kashmir.{{cite web , url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/499270/friendly-advice-hafiz-saeed-advises-shahrukh-khan-to-move-to-pakistan/ , title='Friendly advice': Hafiz Saeed 'advises' Shahrukh Khan to move to Pakistan , work=The Express Tribune , date=27 January 2013 , access-date=16 March 2015

Urdu as the national language of Pakistan

{{See also, Punjabi Language Movement Saeed has questioned Pakistan's decision to adopt Urdu (only 8% of Pakistanis speak Urdu as a first language) as its national language in a country where the majority of people speak the Punjabi language. He advocated that Punjabi should be made the national language.{{cite news , title=Pakistan should have adopted Punjabi as national language: Hafiz Saeed , newspaper=Hindustan Times , date=6 March 2016 , url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/world/pakistan-should-have-adopted-punjabi-as-national-language-hafiz-saeed/story-WLlnsWWnziuQxmbdQUdHuK.html , access-date=20 April 2016

References

{{reflist

External links

* {{commons category-inline * {{IMDb name
Hafiz Saeed
Rewards for Justice.
"Exclusive: Pakistani with U.S. bounty said helping de-radicalize militants" – Reuters, 6 April 2012

Chronology of indictment of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed
by Outlook {{Militant Islamism in South Asia {{Kashmir separatist movement {{2008 Mumbai attacks {{PakistaniTerrorism {{Fugitives wanted by India {{Portal bar, Pakistan, India {{authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Saeed, Hafiz Muhammad 1950 births Pakistani politicians Pakistani Islamists Lashkar-e-Taiba members Fugitives wanted by India Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges King Saud University alumni People from Sargodha District University of the Punjab alumni University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore faculty Pakistani people of Haryanvi descent Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia Leaders of Islamic terror groups Pakistani far-right politicians Prisoners and detainees of Pakistan Pakistani philanthropists People associated with the 2008 Mumbai attacks Living people People designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee Gurjar Pakistani people imprisoned on charges of terrorism People convicted on terrorism charges Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Ahl-i Hadith people