INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Pakistani court has jailed Islamist leader Hafiz Saeed, founder of the militant group blamed by the United States and India for a deadly
2008 attack in India, for 31 years in connection with terrorism financing, court documents showed.Saeed was found guilty of multiple
breaches in two cases but it was not immediately clear how much jail time the new verdict would entail given his current incarceration and
the fact that his sentences run concurrently.The sentences awarded to convict Hafiz Muhammad Saeed run concurrently of this case and of
previously awarded, if any,& a the court said in an order, dated April 7, that was seen by Reuters on Friday.Saeed, founder of the
Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, is already in jail having been found guilty on multiple similar charges in 2020.Saeed has been arrested and
released several times over the past decade
He denies any involvement with militancy, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which gunmen who slipped into Mumbai by boat from Pakistan
killed 160 people, including Americans.The United States offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to his conviction.The
latest sentencing comes as Pakistan tries to avoid blacklisting by the global dirty money watchdog the Financial Action Task Force, which
judges a country&s ability to combat illicit financing, including to militant organisations.Pakistan has been on the watchdog&s &grey list&
since 2018.India has repeatedly demanded that Saeed be handed over for trial for his suspected role in the Mumbai attack but Pakistan has
refused to do so.India has not commented on Saeed&s new prison sentence but late on Friday it declared his son, Hafiz Talha Saeed, a
''terrorist& under its Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.India said Talha Saeed, a cleric living in the Pakistani city of Lahore, had been
actively involved in recruitment, funding, planning and execution of attacks in India and on Indian interests in Afghanistan.The central
government believes that Hafiz Talha Saeed is involved in terrorism and he should be notified as a terrorist under the said Act,& the Indian
government said in a notification.India has for decades accused old rival Pakistan of supporting Islamist militants in attacks on Indian
targets throughout the region
Pakistan denies that and accuses India of supporting separatist rebels in Pakistan.The post Pakistani court jails Islamist Hafiz Saeed for
an extra 31 years first appeared on Ariana News.
