Terrorist Hafiz Saeed is serving 78-year prison sentence in Pakistan: UN

New Delhi

Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based terrorist and mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, is serving a 78-year prison sentence in Pakistan, the United Nations said in its updated information. 

Saeed is facing conviction in seven terror financing cases.

Saeed, designated as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council's 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee in December 2008, is "in (the) custody of the Government of Pakistan, serving a 78-year imprisonment sentence since 12 February 2020 as a result of conviction in seven terror financing cases," the committee said in an amended entry.

So is Pakistan acting against terror?

Pakistan continues to foster terror to infiltrate terrorists across the Line of Control into India's Jammu and Kashmir. While the cross-border infiltrations have decreased since August 2019 when India abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, dozens of terrorist training camps continue to remain active in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. 

Besides, Hafiz Saeed's son Talha Saeed is set to contest in Pakistan's national elections scheduled to be held in February 2024.

Talha is a candidate from a constituency in Lahore from the radical Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) party.

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Interestingly, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan too was a candidate from the same constituency, Lahore's NA-122, before his candidature was declared null and void by Pakistan's election commission. 

Considered number 2 in Lashkar-e-Taeba (LeT), second only to his father, Talha is designated a terrorist in India under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

New Delhi's repeated attempts to get Hafiz Talha designated as a terrorist with the UN have been blocked by China.

India's foreign ministry described Talha's electioneering in Pakistan as a 'mainstreaming of radical elements' and its subsequent normalisation.

What else did the UN say?

The UN Sanctions Committee also noted that Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, founding member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Saeed's deputy, is "confirmed deceased."

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Bhuttavi was a UN-designated terrorist who trained the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, including Ajmal Amir Kasab for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and acted as the terror outfit's chief on at least two occasions.

He died in prison in May last year in Pakistan's Punjab province. Bhuttavi was serving a sentence for terror financing.

(With inputs from agencies)