India Designates LeT Chief Hafiz Saeed’s Son Talha As Terrorist

“Talha Saeed has been actively involved in recruitment, fund collection, planning and executing attacks by LeT in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan… Talha Saeed has been actively visiting various LeT Centres across Pakistan and during his sermons propagating for jihad against India, Israel, United States of America and Indian interests in other western countries,” read the government's notification.

New Delhi: The Union government has designated Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed‘s son Talha as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). “Central Government believes that Hafiz Talha Saeed is involved in terrorism and Hafiz Talha Saeed should be notified as a terrorist under the said Act… therefore, the Central Government hereby makes the following amendment in the Fourth Schedule to the said Act, namely: In the Fourth Schedule to the said Act, after serial number 31 and the entries relating thereto, the following serial number and entries shall be inserted, namely: 32. Hafiz Talha Saeed,” read a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday read.

Talha Saeed (47) serves as second-in-command of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and is in charge of the organisation’s finances. Talha survived an assassination attempt in 2019 in Lahore when a bomb inside a refrigerator shop exploded.

Talha heads the cleric wing of LeT, which is a proscribed organisation under UAPA, the government notification said. “Talha Saeed has been actively involved in recruitment, fund collection, planning and executing attacks by LeT in India and Indian interests in Afghanistan… Talha Saeed has been actively visiting various LeT Centres across Pakistan and during his sermons propagating for jihad against India, Israel, United States of America and Indian interests in other western countries,” read the notification.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, was amended in August 2019 to include the provision for designating individuals as terrorists. Prior to that, only organizations were classified under the act. After designating individual as terrorist, government could freeze their finances and crackdown on networks created by them.