Arrest Hafiz Saeed: US

ISLAMABAD: The US said on Friday it was “deeply concerned” after Pakistan freed one of the suspected masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks despite months of pressure from Washington over militancy.

The statement came as firebrand cleric Hafiz Saeed, who heads the UN-listed terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and has a $10 million US bounty on his head, led prayers and met with supporters in Lahore on Friday after his midnight release.

“The Pakistani government should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. The $10 million bounty for Hafiz Saeed first offered in 2012 still stands, Nauert said, adding that Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Taiba, was a terrorist organisation and responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians, including American citizens.

On the other hand, Saeed accused India of funding and patronising terrorism, extremism and separatist tendencies in Pakistan and said Islamabad had plethora of evidence that showed Indian role in terrorist and subversive activities in the country.

“Restoring peace between the two countries is impossible if terrorists like Kalbhushan Yadav are present in the Pakistan. Ridding the country of all such elements must be our top priority to guard national security and integrity,” he said in his Friday sermon at Markaz Al-Qadsia after his release from nearly two-year detention.

He urged the government to re-evaluate its priorities and policies towards India. Earlier, a large number of workers chanting slogans gave him a warm welcome and showered rose petals on him.

He criticised the government for imposing restrictions on JuD, detentions and punitive measures to, what he called, please the western powers. “Biggest problem at present is that the Pakistani rulers are obeying the West like slaves. We have to free Pakistan. Freedom of Pakistan is the surety of Kashmir’s independence. When Pakistan will decide its policies itself, no one will pressurise it,” he said.

Saeed described the United States as the biggest usurper and worst oppressor in the world, advising Pakistani foreign minister to ask the US why it was trying to put the blame of its defeat in Afghanistan on Pakistan.