Hafiz Muhammad Saeed

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
حافظ محمد سعید
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed giving a speech
Born	1948 (age 68–69) Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Occupation	Leader of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, Lashkar-e-Taiba
Religion	Islam
Denomination	Ahl-i Hadith

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed (Urdu: حافظ محمد سعید, born 1948) is a co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and the chief or amir of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, which operates mainly from Pakistan and has had sanctions placed against it as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations. He is an internationally designated terrorist even though he is influential in Pakistan among certain religious groups. In April 2012, the United States announced a bounty of $10 million on Saeed, for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 164 civilians were killed including 6 American citizens, but there have been protests in Pakistan against the US bounty.

India considers him as one of its most wanted terrorists because of his alleged ties with Lashkar-e-Taiba and his alleged involvement in attacks in India such as the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, 2006 Mumbai train bombings and 2001 Indian Parliament attack . Therefore Saeed is listed on the NIA Most Wanted list and India has banned his organisation as a terrorist organisation. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Russia and Australia have also banned LET. Since 2008, various Indian politicians have demanded that Saeed be handed over but there is no extradition treaty between the two countries. Saeed states that he has no links with LET and that India has neither evidence nor any real proof behind their allegations.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was born in a Gujjar family in Sargodha, Punjab. As told by him, his father Kamal-ud-Din, a farmer, in the autumn of 1947, along with his family started migrating from East Punjab and reached Pakistan in around four months. His family lost 36 of its members when migrating from Hisar, Haryana (erstwhile Punjab) to Lahore during the Partition of India. His former wife is called Maimoona.