A Pakistani anti-terrorism court recently sentenced Hafiz Saeed to 32 years in jail in two terror financing cases, news agency PTI reported on Friday.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs. 340000/- on Saeed who is considered to be a mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack.
Who is Hafiz Saeed and what is his connection to India? Were his forefathers Hindu Gujjars as reported by an Indian daily? Read this on till the end to learn more about Saeed, his family background, and his ideology.
Hafiz Saeed is a Pakistan-based Muslim cleric who has been accused of masterminding several barbaric terrorist attacks in India with the most notable one being the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in which dozens of people lost their lives.
Besides the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Hafiz Saeed is also a prime accused of the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament House in New Delhi and the 2016 attack on the Indian military base in Uri, Jammu, and Kashmir.
Family Background
Hafiz Saeed (born Hafiz Muhammad Saeed) come from a middle-class scholarly family in the Sargodha district of the Punjab province of Pakistan.
His family originally belonged to Hisar, Haryana, and had migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.
As reported by the Hindu, Saeed traces his origins not to the Pashtun areas along the Durand line or from Kashmir along the Line of Control, but to a Gujjar family from Haryana, India.
As per media reports his forefathers were Gujjar pastoralists and had converted to Islam a few centuries back after getting motivated by Sufi saints of the region.
The deeply entrenched Muslim rule over the subcontinent also provided them an enabling platform to rise and prosper.
However, after India’s partition in 1947, his family choose to migrate to the newly created Muslim state of Pakistan.
However, as per media reports, 36 of its clan members were brutally killed on the way and only a few could actually make it to Pakistan.
This accident had an overbearing and indelible impact on Hafiz Saeed’s mind and personality as developed an extreme hate for Hindu-Brahmanism and its dominance over India.
Ideology
Hafiz Saeed follows the strict Ahl-e-Hadith interpretation of Islam. The goals of his organizations such as JUD and LET are largely aligned with that of Pakistan, including the liberation of Kashmiris from the Indian rule.
It is said that his maternal uncle Hafiz Abdullah Bahawalpuri who subscribed to Ahal-e-Hadith’s interpretation of Islam has a major influence on Hafiz Saeed’s life and ideology.
Following his maternal uncle’s footsteps, Saeed is a firm believer in Islamic Jihad and considers shahadat i.e. martyrdom to be the crux of jihad.
Saeed once filed a petition to the Lahore High Court calling for public officials in Pakistan to tone down their privileged lifestyles.
Notably, Hafiz Saeed has also advocated that Punjabi should be made the national language of Pakistan instead of Urdu.
On numerous occasions, he has questioned Pakistan’s decision to adopt Urdu as its national language in a country where the majority of people speak the Punjabi language.
Saeed has a huge following in Pakistan where he is considered “the helper and mentor of millions of poor classes” according to Indian Express and Dawn.
Terror Charges
There have been numerous terrorism-related cases against Hafiz Seed. He was arrested on 21 December 2001 after the India accused him of being involved in the infamous 13 December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi.
He remained in custody until 31 March 2002 when he was released shortly after due to the efforts of his wife Maimoona Saeed before being put under house arrest on 31 October 2002.
In July 2006, he was accused of the Mumbai train bombings and subsequently arrested by the Punjab government after Indian assertions. Later, he was released on 28 August 2006 after a Lahore High Court order.
India also considers Hafiz Saeed to be the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in which over 166 people lost their lives.
During the attacks, 11 Pakistani terrorists went on a rampage and targeted the most elite hotels and clubs in Mumbai with the most notable one being the Tajmahal Hotel, one of the most famous hobnobbing places for Indian and foreign elites.
Soon after the attacks, India requested the United Nations Security Council to put Hafiz Saeed and his organizations on the global terror list which the latter promptly complied with some time later.
Thus in addition to being on the most wanted list of India’s National Investigation Agency, Saeed also became an UN-designated terrorist.
Later, at India’s request, the Interpol also issued a red notice against Hafiz Saeed, along with Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
India also tried to extradite Saeed from Pakistan. However, in absence of any formal extradition treaty between India and Pakistan, this could not materialize.
As several American citizens also lost their lives in the attack, the United States announced a bounty of $10 million on Saeed in 2012 for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Moreover, the US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist since 2012, as reported by the Indian Express.
Saeed mocked the US moves as laughable and absurd. Later in a press conference, he said “here I am in front of everyone, not hiding in a cave”, adding that “if Washington wanted to contact him, they knew where he was”.
Previous Convictions
Hafeez Saeed has been convicted numerous times for terror charges by different Pakistani courts.
Several terror-related proceedings have been going on against Hafiz Saeed since 2001. Significantly, the Lahore High Court quashed all proceedings against Hafiz Saeed and set him free on 12 October 2009.
It was only in February 2020, that Hafiz Saeed was duly convicted for the first time for terror financing and sentenced to five years by a Pakistan anti-terrorism court.
On November 19, 2020, a Pakistani court sentenced him again to 5 years in prison thus making the conviction for a total of 10 years. In the same year, an anti-terrorism court in the city of Lahore fined Hafiz Muhammad Saeed 110,000 rupees.
On 24 December he was sentenced to 15 and a half years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan in one more terror financing case along with a fine of Rs. 20,000 this time.
And now with his latest conviction on Friday, April 8, 2022, in which he has been sentenced to 32 years in jail for two more terror-related cases, he faces a total of 68 years imprisonment.