A non-bailable warrant has been issued against Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed by the Special NIA Court in Jammu in connection with the Pahalgam terror attack case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had sought an open-dated non-bailable warrant against Saeed, a resident of Sargodha in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
The warrant was issued by the Special Judge of the NIA Court on July 8, two days after the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet against Saeed. The court stated that the arrest and custodial interrogation of Saeed are necessary for a fair, complete, and effective investigation, and the non-bailable warrant is forwarded to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), NIA Jammu, for execution in accordance with law.
The court’s order paves the way for the initiation of a trial against Saeed in absentia. In its supplementary chargesheet, the NIA charged 76-year-old Saeed in both his personal capacity and as the chief of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit and its proxy front, the Resistance Front (TRF).
Saeed has been booked under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The NIA specifically mentions Saeed’s role in planning and monitoring the terror attack, besides additional forensic evidence collected from the attack site.
Saeed, who has been designated a global terrorist by India and the United States, is also considered the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Last year, on April 22, terrorists gunned down 25 tourists and a local man in the Baisaran valley in J&K’s Pahalgam.
In the first chargesheet filed in the case in December last year, three terrorists directly involved in the attack were named, including Suleiman, a top Lashkar militant commander from Pakistan. The three were killed in a joint operation by the military, the J&K Police, and the CRPF in July last year.
