US concerned over release of Hafiz Saeed from house arrest

WASHINGTON: The United States has expressed deep concern over release of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) Chief Hafiz Saeed, who is accused by the US and India of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, from house arrest on Friday.

US State Department spokesperson, Heather Nauert, in a statement said, “The United States is deeply concerned that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Seed 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.”

She said the Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes.

In May 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order. Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which six American citizens were killed.

Saeed has repeatedly denied involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 10 gunmen attacked targets in India’s largest city, including two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre and a train station in a rampage that killed 166 people.

LeT and several of its front organizations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions.

Since 2012, the United States has offered a U.S. $10 million‎ reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Hafiz Saeed had been under house arrest since January.

“I’m happy that no allegation against me was proved, which could have done damage to me, or my country’s interests,” Saeed told supporters after his release in the city of Lahore, according to a video released by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), which he heads.

“Thank God, we were vindicated.”