Hafiz Saeed undergoes angioplasty at Lahore hospital

PTI, Mar 20, 2020, 5:20 PM IST

Lahore: Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed underwent angioplasty at a hospital here after he complained of chest pain, officials said on Friday, March 20.

Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, was last month sentenced to 11 years in jail in two terror financing cases. The 70-year-old fiery cleric was arrested on July 17 and is lodged at the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail here.

Saeed on Thursday complained of chest pain. Doctors at the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore examined him and termed it angina pain. They referred him to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) where he underwent the procedure of angioplasty, an official of the Punjab government told PTI.

After the procedure, Saeed was shifted to the coronary care unit (CCU) of PIC. Saeed is likely to be shifted back to jail on Saturday, the official said. The founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba has been kept in the hospital in high security.

Lahore’s anti-terrorism court Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta sentenced Saeed and his close aide Zafar Iqbal to five and a half years each and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 in each case. A total of 11 years sentence will run concurrently.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab police had registered 23 FIRs against Saeed and his accomplices on the charges of terror financing in different cities of the province.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organization for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US named Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million rewards for information that brings Saeed to justice. He was listed as a terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

The US welcomed the conviction of Saeed and described it as an “important step forward” for Pakistan in meeting its international commitments to combat terror financing and not to allow non-state actors to operate from its soil.

The crackdown on Saeed’s outfit last year followed a warning by the international terror financing watchdog to Pakistan to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing and money laundering.