Hafiz Saeed has blood on his hands and now he wants to bring mainstream extremism. This was stated by the former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Michael Morell while criticizing his release from house detention on Friday.
“Saeed is a terrorist. Worked with LeT, a Kashmiri militant group, and al-Qaida on attacks. He has blood on his hands. Now wants to bring extremism into the political mainstream in Pakistan,” Morell said in a tweet.
Accused of being the Mumbai attack mastermind Saeed was released Friday ahead of the 9th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.
The Trump administration too has expressed “deep concern” over Saeed’s release and asked the Pakistan government to make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes.
A statement issued by US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert in Washington DC and distributed by the US embassy in Delhi said, “The United States is deeply concerned that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed has been released from house arrest in Pakistan. LeT is 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.”
After coming out of house arrest, the JuD chief said that he would gather people across Pakistan for the “cause of Kashmir” and try to help Kashmiris get their “destination of freedom”.
He also said that the former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted beacuse of his friendship with Indian PM Narendra Modi, who is a ‘killer of Muslims’.
Saeed carries a bounty of $10 million announced by the US for his role in alleged terror activities. Saeed has been under detention since January this year. Saeed was put under house arrest after the Mumbai attack but was released about six months later in June 2009.
