US raises concern over Hafiz Saeed running for office

Washington: The United States on Wednesday raised concern about 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed's foray into electoral politics in Pakistan in 2018.Addressing mediapersons, US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert reiterated that the US considered Saaed, a mastermind of Mumbai attacks.

Referring to LeT and JuD, Ms Nauert said, 'A man who is affiliated with LeT, Lashkar-e Tayyiba, one of the terror groups. It’s a group that the United States Government considers to be a terror organisation.'According to Daily Pakistan, the official detailed that the Trump administration was in contact with Islamabad regarding the release of Saeed.

In strongly-worded remarks, she said, 'I want to remind folks we have a $10 million Reward for Justice program that would reward for information that would bring him to justice. So I want to make that clear so that everybody knows, $10 million out for this guy, and we would certainly have concerns about him running for office.'Responding to a question whether the US has shared any tangible evidence of his activities related to terror, the spokesperson alleged that the Saeed-led group was a terror organisation and Washington would definitely substantiate its claims regarding the allegations.

Ms Nauert added, 'I can tell you that his organization – his organization that was responsible for those attacks – is considered a foreign terror organization. It’s considered a foreign terror organization by the US Government for a reason and for a good reason. I would imagine that if we had any intelligence, we would certainly share it with the Pakistanis on that front.' (UNI)