Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi
| Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi | |
|---|---|
| Lashkar-e-Taiba | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1960 (age 56–57) Pakistan |
| Nationality | Pakistan |
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhavi (born c. 1960), is a top leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba and currently serves as Supreme Commander of operations in Kashmir and as a member of LeT's General Council. He is listed on the NIA Most Wanted list.
Lakhvi, said to be 52 years old as of December 2008, was born in the Okara district of Punjab, Pakistan. He has directed military actions in Chechnya, Bosnia, Iraq and South-east Asia and is referred to as Chachu, or Uncle, by the young trainees.
In 1999 at a three-day annual congregation held at Muridke, he explained the reason for fidayeen suicide squad missions in the aftermath of the Kargil War: "After the Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil and the Nawaz-Clinton statement in Washington, it was important to boost the morale of the Kashmiri people. These Fidayen missions were initiated to teach India a lesson as they were celebrating after the Kargil war." He said that the next target would be New Delhi.
In 2006, he asked LeT's members to begin training operatives for suicide bombings. In the past, he told operatives to mount attacks in well-populated areas. Indian officials claim Lakhvi also oversaw Azam Cheema, who has been accused of being a leader in the 2006 bombing of the Mumbai rail network that killed more than 200 and left 700 injured.
In May 2008, the US Treasury Department announced that it had frozen the assets of four Lashkar-e-Toiba leaders including Lakhvi.
On December 3, 2008 Indian officials named him as one of four possible major planners behind the November 2008 Mumbai Attacks. He reportedly offered to pay the family of Ajmal Kasab the sum of Rs.150,000 for his participation in the attacks. On December 7, 2008 Pakistani armed forces arrested Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi in a raid on an LeT training camp near Muzafarabad in Pakistani Kashmir. He was among 12 people detained. Pakistan confirmed the arrest but refused to hand over any of its citizens to Indian authorities. Officials stated that any Pakistani citizen accused of involvement in the attack would be tried in Pakistan.
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