Alleged Mumbai attack mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, placed under house arrest

After years of pressure from India and the United States, Pakistan has finally taken action against the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, Hafiz Saeed.

According to the latest reports, police put Saeed under house arrest in Lahore on Tuesday, and the move is expected to spark nationwide protest from his supporters.

The Mumbai attack, which took place in 2008, brought India an Pakistan to the brink of war. During the attack, 10 gunmen opened fire at; commuters, foreigners and some of India’s wealthy elite on two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a train station. The rampage resulted in the death of 166 people.

The Indian and US intelligence pointed at Hafiz Saeed as being the architect of the attacks and since then, has asked Pakistan to deal with the alleged criminal accordingly.

Saeed is the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, which is headquartered in Lahore. On Monday, police detained Saeed at his headquarter and on early Tuesday morning, he was taken by police to his house, where he was later detained. Media was banned from entering the premises and the move is being kept confidential.

Meanwhile, Saeed has denied ordering the Mumbai attacks and he has even distanced himself from LeT. Instead, he has been focusing on his charity organization called Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

Police detained Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group that India blames for the bloodshed, at the Lahore headquarters of his charity on Monday night. Shortly before dawn on Tuesday, he was taken by police to his house, where a Reuters cameraman saw police setting up a perimeter. They later banned media from the scene as about 100 Saeed supporters chanted slogans.

Saeed has denied ordering the Mumbai attacks and has distanced himself from LeT, while leading his charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

It is unclear why Pakistan decided to take action against Saeed after all these years, but according to analysts, it is because of India’s continued pressure and because of Trump’s new regime.

“Trump is taking hard decisions against Muslim countries, there is open talk of actions against Pakistan also. So yes, this was a consideration,” said an official privy to the situation.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Jan 31 2017. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.