U.S., India outraged as Pakistan frees cleric accused of being terrorist leader
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 the 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 Jamaatud-Dawa organization, widely believed to be a front for the Lashkare-Taiba militant group, which India believes was behind the deadly attack in Mumbai.
The U.S. State Department expressed deep concern over Saeed’s release from house arrest.
In a statement, 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.
“The Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes,” she said.
Pakistan has been detaining and freeing Saeed off and on since the attack, and he and four of his aides were put under house arrest in Lahore in January under a vague law known as Maintenance of Public Order. His release came after a three-judge panel dismissed the government’s plea to continue his house arrest, which ended Thursday.
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.
In recent years Saeed often addressed protest rallies, asking the world community to pressure India to give the right of self-determination to the people in Kashmir.
Hours after his release, he addressed a congregation of thousands of followers at a sprawling mosque in Lahore and asked Islamabad not to hold talks with India unless New Delhi agrees to a troop withdrawal from Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Saeed said he was detained for highlighting the Indian atrocities in Kashmir.
“I am not struggling for any personal gains. My struggle is aimed at safeguarding the interests of Pakistan. I want Kashmir’s freedom from India and this is my crime. I was arrested for it,” he told worshippers.