New Delhi: Hafiz Saeed, the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder sanctioned by the UN Security Council, is not serving time in jail but is at his Johar Town house in Lahore from where he runs the terror group, according to people familiar with the matter.
Saeed was formally placed under arrest in July 2019, he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in jail in a terror financing case in February this year that was described by the United States as an “important step forward”. Last week, Saeed was handed down another set of jail terms in two more cases of terror financing.
Hafiz Saeed’s arrest and his subsequent conviction have been seen as an effort by the Imran Khan government to stay off the Financial Action Task Force ‘black list’.
But an Indian intelligence input indicates that Hafiz Saeed is not in Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail as had been widely publicised. “He is mostly at home… ostensibly in protective custody that even lets him receive guests,” an intelligence official said.
Last month, according to the intelligence input, Saeed’s visitor at home was Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the chief operational commander and the head of the LeT’s jihad wing. The meeting is learnt to have centered around some steps that they needed to take to collect funds for jihad.
Like Saeed, Lakhvi is also a UNSC designated terrorist and is the lead plotter of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He has been arrested more than once by Pakistani security forces for terror in face of international pressure but like his boss Hafiz Saeed, has always been let off due to lack of evidence. Indian officials said it was Lakhvi who persuaded, guided and handled Pakistan-born US citizen David Headley for reconnaissance missions in India prior to the 26/11 attacks.
Pakistan watchers in New Delhi said intelligence inputs that Hafiz Saeed was not being held in prison were in line with a pattern about Islamabad’s track record in dealing with terrorists. One of them conceded that they were initially surprised when Hafiz Saeed was convicted for the first time for 10 years and six months and had tentatively interpreted it to indicate that Saeed had outlived his utility for the Pakistani deep state. Saeed had been arrested several times since the 9/11 attacks but was always set free after the pressure eased.
Indian officials said they were still not clear how Pakistan had dealt with the paperwork around Hafiz Saeed’s judicial custody.
“Our understanding on the basis of the available information is that this may be an informal arrangement. We are not aware if there is a formal order notifying Hafiz Saeed’s house as a prison,” the intelligence official cited above said.