Hafiz Sayeed: India requests Pakistan to extradite mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks

The Indian government has requested Pakistan to hand over Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, to face justice in India, according to local media reports citing diplomatic sources.

The official request for extradition has been received by the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report said quoting diplomatic sources. However, neither the Indian government nor the Pakistan ministry has officially commented on the matter.

Hafiz Saeed is a wanted terrorist in India and carries a $10 million bounty placed by the US for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.


India has been persistently seeking Saeed's extradition to stand trial for his role in the Mumbai attacks. However, the absence of an extradition treaty between India and Pakistan poses challenges to the legal process.

In April 2022, a Pakistani court had sentenced Saeed to a 31-year prison term on charges related to terrorism financing. However, conflicting reports have emerged regarding his current incarceration status, with suggestions that he may have been released from house arrest in 2017. Saeed has been subject to multiple instances of arrest and subsequent release over the past decade.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML), Hafiz Saeed's political organization, has nominated candidates for every national and provincial assembly constituency in Pakistan for the upcoming general elections scheduled for February 8, 2024.

Talha Saeed, the son of Hafiz Saeed, is set to participate in the elections for the National Assembly's constituency NA-127 in Lahore. Additionally, PMML's central president, Khalid Masood Sindhu, will be contesting from NA-130, where he will be challenging the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. The electoral symbol for the PMML is the chair.

Despite being designated a terrorist by the UN and EU in the 2000s, Saeed had not been charged or extradited for nearly two decades.

(Inputs from agencies)