Terrorist blamed for Mumbai attacks sets up political party
A TERRORIST alleged to be behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks is to set up a political party in Pakistan, adding to tensions on the subcontinent ahead of the 70th anniversary of partition.
A charity founded by 68-year-old Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million (£7.5 million) US bounty on his head and is under house arrest, said yesterday that it planned to launch a political wing.
Mr Saeed is alleged to have masterminded dozens of attacks within India, including the attacks in Mumbai that killed 164 people. The newly formed Milli Muslim League party will be headed by Saifullah Khalid, a religious scholar and longtime official of the charity Jamaat-ud-dawa (JUD).
Gopal Bagley, a spokesman for India’s ministry for external affairs, said it was concerning that “a person who has traded in bullets to take human lives is now trying to hide behind ballots”.
Mr Saeed has a history of shapeshifting. After the terrorist group he founded, Lashkar-e-taiba, was banned by Pakistan’s government in 2001, he established JUD, which has taken root in the country despite being designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.
Some believe Mr Saeed’s turn to politics is backed by the country’s powerful military, which has used Lashkar-e-taiba as a proxy in its conflict with India.
Having once reportedly said that Indians must be “cut and cut” until “they kneel before you and ask for mercy”, Mr Saeed appears on posters for the Milli Muslim League, alongside a fleet of ambulances.
India is putting pressure on Pakistan’s government to halt Mr Saeed’s entry into politics. “It’s Pakistan’s obligation, obviously, to make sure that such individuals are not able to enjoy the freedom to conduct terrorist activities,” said Mr Baglay.