India seeks extradition of 26/11 attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed

India has conveyed a request to the Pakistan government regarding the extradition of 26/11 attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed to India for facing trial in a particular case, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.

Allowing the radical outfits including Hafiz Saeed’s son to contest polls in Pakistan, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that Pakistan has been indulging in the mainstreaming of “radical outfits” as a part of its state policy, adding that India continues to monitor the situation as it has “serious security implications” for regional security.
Notably, Saeed, who is a UN-proscribed terrorist is the founder of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). He was the mastermind of the deadly 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and is wanted in India in numerous cases.

He said that India has conveyed the request with all relevant supporting documents.
Addressing the weekly briefing, Bagchi said, “The person in question (Hafiz Saeed) is wanted in numerous cases in India. He is also a UN-proscribed terrorist. In this regard, we have conveyed a request along with relevant supporting documents, to the government of Pakistan to extradite him to India to face trial in a particular case.
“We have been flagging the issue of activities that he’s been wanted for. This is a recent request,” he added.

“The issue of radical elements normalised and participating in elections in Pakistan…it is an internal affair so let me not comment on it. But, the mainstreaming of radical outfits in Pakistan is nothing new and has been a part of their state policy for a long time,” Bagchi said.
He added, “Such developments have a serious security implication for the security of our region. For our part, we continue to monitor every development that has implications for our national security”.

Muhammad Hafiz Saeed, who has been in jail since July 17, 2019, for other charges, was sentenced in April 2022 by a special anti-terrorism court in Lahore, Pakistan, to a jail term of 33 years for “financing terrorism.”
Despite being designated a terrorist by the UN and EU in the 2000s, Saeed was neither charged nor extradited over nearly two decades.
Saeed was designated as a terrorist by the United Nations Security Council in December 2008.

Meanwhile, in a development that has brought criticism, the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), a political entity of Hafiz Saeed has fielded candidates for each and every national and provincial assembly constituency across Pakistan for the upcoming general elections slated to be held on February 8, 2024.

Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha Saeed is also going to contest the polls from National Assembly’s constituency NA-127, Lahore, while PMML’s central president Khalid Masood Sindhu is taking part from NA-130, against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supremo and former PM Nawaz Sharif.