US offers $10-mn reward for 26 / 11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed

The US announced a $10-million dollar reward for the capture or information leading to the capture of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, said to be the mastermind behind the 26 November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Saeed is said to be roaming free in Pakistan despite the evidence against him; and continues to hold anti-India rallies. He is on India's most wanted list after the 26/11 attacks that left 166 people dead, and the government has asked Pakistan to hand him over.

US undersecretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman, who is on her first visit to India, told Indian officials including foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai that Lashkar co-founder and Saeed's brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki also carries a bounty of $3 million on his head.

Saeed joins the ranks of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and the al Qaeda chiefs of Iran and Iraq, all of whom carry a reward of $10 million. There is also an even bigger $25 million bounty on Ayman al Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's new chief after Osama bin Laden was killed.

Saeed was placed under house arrest in late 2009 after India accused him of being the mastermind of 26/11 attacks. However, the Lahore high court quashed all cases against him and set him free. The court also declared that JuD was not a banned organisation and could work freely in Pakistan.

Welcoming the bounty on Saeed, foreign minister S M Krishna said, "India welcomes this move to bring the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks to book. It sends a strong message to the Lashkar, its members and patrons that the international community is together in combatting terrorism. This is a message to terrorists all over the world. I always insisted that he was the brain behind the terror attack in Mumbai."