Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is a Pakistani Islamist who also heads the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. The dreaded terror group was founded in 1987 and apart from Saeed, Abdullah Azzam and Zafar Iqbal were the co-founders. Further, Osama Bin Laden funded the organization.
Saeed is also the chief of Jama’at-ud-Dawah and an internationally designated terrorist. He was born in 1948 to a Gujjar family in Sargodha, Punjab.
India considers him to be one of the most wanted terrorists due to his involvement in the deadly 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, 2006 Mumbai train bombings and the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament.
He is a UN and US-designated terrorist apart from having a USD 10 million American bounty on his head regarding terror activities.
Out of all the Pakistan based terrorist groups, the LeT is the only group with support bases across India.
This terror group is banned by India, United States, and Britain. Saeed, who is notoriously known as the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack has time and again tried to instigate problems in Jammu and Kashmir.
He had been put under house arrest for 297 days since January by the Pakistan government.
India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Saeed's release confirmed once again the lack of seriousness by the Pakistan government in bringing to justice perpetrators of terrorism, including individuals and entities designated by the UN.
The fire-brand cleric's release came ahead of the 9th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people, including six Americans, were killed.