Pakistan releases U.S.-wanted militant
Hafiz Saeed thought to have ties to 2008 attack in Mumbai.
LAHORE, PAKISTAN — Pakistani authorities acting on a court order released a U.S.wanted militant Friday who allegedly founded a banned group linked to the 2008 Mumbai, India attack that killed 168 people, his spokesman and officials said.
Hafiz Saeed, who has been designated a terrorist by the U.S. Justice Department and has a $10 million bounty on his head, was released before dawn after the court this week ended his detention in the eastern city of Lahore.
The move outraged U.S. and Indian authorities, but Saeed’s spokesman Yahya Mujahid confirmed his release, calling it a “victory of truth.”
“Hafiz Saeed was under house arrest on baseless allegations and jail officials came to his home last night and told him that he is now free,” he said.
Saeed ran the Jamaat-udDawa organization, widely believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, which India believes was behind the deadly attack in Mumbai.
As expected, the U.S. State Department expressed deep concern over Saeed’s release.
In a statement, the State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the Lashkar-e-Taiba group was a designated foreign terrorist organization responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens.
Pakistan has been detaining and freeing Saeed off and on since the attack and he and four of his aides were last put under house arrest in January. His release came after a three-judge panel dismissed the government’s plea to continue his house arrest, which ended Thursday. His aides had been released earlier.
Saeed is known for publicly supporting militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, which is split between Pakistan and India and is claimed by both. Many in the Indian-controlled portion favor independence or a merger with Pakistan and violence has increased in Indian-controlled Kashmir in recent years.
Saeed’s release angered neighboring India, which for years has asked Pakistan to take action against all those linked to the Mumbai attack. It is widely believed that Pakistan has long tolerated banned Lashkar-eTaiba and other Islamic militant groups.