Why Pakistan fears a ‘covert operation’ on LeT chief Hafiz Saeed

Pakistan has reportedly ramped up security for the terror group Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed. Fearing that he could be targeted in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, the 77-year-old terrorist is being heavily guarded.

Saeed is believed to be the mastermind of the Pahalgam massacre that killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Kashmir on April 22. The Resistance Front (TRF), which claimed responsibility for the terror attack, is the offshoot of his LeT.

Here’s how Pakistan is protecting Hafiz Saeed.

Pakistan steps up Hafiz Saeed’s security

Pakistan has intensified security near Hafiz Saeed ’s home in Lahore. As per a Times of India (TOI) report, former commandos from the Special Service Group and additional men have been deployed at his residences, including the one in Mohalla Johar in Lahore.

Saeed, wanted in India for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, is being kept in a densely populated area with civilians around. The house of Saeed, who is in “imprisonment” in Pakistan, has been converted into a temporary sub-jail, as per TOI.

More from Explainers

How Pahalgam terrorists are still hiding in south Kashmir 21 terror camps razed, 100 terrorists killed: Operation Sindoor’s devastating effect on Pakistan, PoK

Sources told India Today TV that the security of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief has been quadrupled. His security detail includes armed personnel from the Pakistan Armed Forces who protect him round-the-clock.

The compound in his residence is being monitored by drones, and high-resolution CCTV cameras have been installed on roads within a four-kilometre radius.

Citing satellite images and videos, India Today previously reported that there are three main structures at Saeed’s compound – a fortified residence, a large mosque and a madrasa that act as his operational base, and a private park.

Editor’s Picks

1

After Pahalgam terror attack, how Pakistan is waging a cyberwar against India 2

From ISI chief to Pakistan’s new NSA: Who is Lt General Muhammad Asim Malik?

His security was enhanced shortly after the Pahalgam attack. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang has vowed to take revenge for the Pahalgam massacre, threatening to target the LeT founder.

Saeed is wanted in India and the US for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. In 2022, the LeT founder was sentenced to 33 years in jail in two cases of terror financing in Pakistan.

He was shown to have been arrested in July 2019.

‘Unexplained’ killings of terrorists in Pakistan

There have been a number of mysterious killings of terrorists in Pakistan since 2023.

In March this year, Hafiz Saeed’s close aide, Abu Qatal , was allegedly shot dead by unknown assailants in the Jhelum district of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The 43-year-old LeT commander was reported to be Saeed’s nephew. Following his murder, the security of the 26/11 plotter was increased.

In March 2024, Sheikh Jameel-ur-Rehman, the self-styled secretary general of the United Jihad Council, was found dead in mysterious circumstances in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Abbottabad.

Another dreaded terrorist was killed by unknown assailants in Pakistan. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Shahid Latif, believed to be the mastermind behind the 2016 Pathankot attack, was gunned down in Sialkot in October 2023.

Dawood Malik, a known aide of India’s wanted terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar, was shot dead in North Waziristan by unidentified gunmen days before Latif’s killing.

Two motorbike-borne assailants shot dead Maulana Ziaur Rehman in Pakistan’s Karachi in September 2023. He radicalised youth to take up arms and conduct jihad against India.

The same month, Abu Qasim Kashmiri was assassinated by unknown men in September 2023 while praying inside the Al-Qudus mosque in Rawalakot. He was believed to be the main plotter of the Dhangri attack in Rajouri district that killed seven and injured another 13.

In August 2023, Sardar Hussain Arain, Hafiz Saeed’s associate, was killed in Qazi Ahmad town in Sindh’s Shaheed Benazirabad district.

Paramjit Singh Panjwar, a Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorist, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Lahore in May 2023.

Bashir Ahmad Peer alias Imtiyaz Alam, a close aide of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, was killed at point-blank range by the assailants outside a shop in Rawalpindi in February 2023.

A week later, former Al-Badr Mujahideen commander Syed Khalid Raza was shot dead in Karachi by unknown men on bikes.

In March 2022, Zahoor Mistry, one of the hijackers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814, was killed by two bike-borne assailants in Karachi’s Akhtar colony.

With inputs from agencies