Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has been appealed for extradition by India. India sent a request for extradition to Pakistan, its immediate neighbor.
Hafiz Saaed, along with a few other leaders of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), was found guilty for several years of financing terrorism and was imprisoned in Pakistan starting in 2019.
Hafiz Saeed, who has been detained and freed multiple times in the last ten years, insists he is not involved in any armed operations. The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is purportedly behind the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008, which claimed 166 lives, including six Americans. The JuD, directed by Hafiz Saeed, is the front group for LeT.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has formally requested that terrorist Hafiz Saeed be extradited to Pakistan, according to an India Today article that cited sources acquainted with the developments within the Indian government.
According to the report, the Pakistani government was requested by India’s Ministry of External Affairs to start the legal process of extraditing Hafiz Saeed.
Notably, Pakistan has refused to extradite Hafiz Saeed so that he might stand justice for the Mumbai attacks in India; however, this procedure is complicated by the lack of an extradition treaty between Pakistan and India.
Hafiz Saeed was given 31 years in prison in April 2022 by a Pakistani court for his roles in two cases involving the financing of terrorism.
Considering that Saeed is presently incarcerated and the sentences are serving their terms concurrently, it was unclear how much jail time he would receive after being found guilty of various breaches in the two trials, according to Al Jazeera.
Because of his suspected involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the US has placed a $10 million bounty on Hafiz Saeed, who is considered one of India’s most wanted terrorists.
