A militant with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, who is also one of the most wanted men in India, walks free in Pakistan, giving public speeches criticizing Washington and New Delhi, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Hafiz Saeed, a founding member of the al Qaeda affiliated Lashkar e-Taiba jihadist terror group, accuses America of "supporting oppression" in the disputed mountainous Kashmir region that is split between Indian and Pakistani administrative control.
Violence flared up in the region this past week after Indian security forces killed a top rebel leader. More than 30 people have been killed in anti-India protests since then.
"America is supporting this oppression by India by saying it is an internal matter," Saeed told the Associated Press from his two-story home in the city of Lahore. "This has given India encouragement, and because of this, the killings and violence" will continue.
The U.S. has said it would not intervene in the conflict. Elizabeth Trudeau, director of the State Department’s press office, said the U.S. has discussed the escalating violence in Kashmir with both India and Pakistan, rejecting Saeed’s claim that America is indifferent.
"We are very concerned about the deaths of the protesters," Trudeau said. "That’s of grave concern to us. We continue to be in touch with the government of India. We’ve been in discussions with the government of Pakistan as well."
Militants in Kashmir are demanding that the region be united under Pakistani control or severed from India as an independent nation.
Saeed said he would lead demonstrations across Pakistan to pressure the government to sever relations with the U.S. if Washington refuses to intervene in the Kashmir territorial dispute.
Pakistan and some human rights organizations accuse Indian soldiers of forced detentions, torture, and other such abuses. India has castigated Islamabad for sending fighters across the shared border to carry out or incite violence.
Lashkar e-Taiba, the U.S. designated terror group that Saeed helped found, is considered one of the most effective insurgent groups fighting in Indian-controlled parts of Kashmir. It is widely believed that Pakistan’s military and intelligence service, known as the ISI, helped create the group. Lashkar e-Taiba was outlawed throughout the country following Washington’s designation, but its charity wing Jamaat-ud-Dawa still operates, despite the U.S. and United Nations naming it a terrorist organization.
India has accused Saeed of masterminding the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. The one person arrested for the Mumbai assault, Ajmal Amir Kasab, testified that Saeed visited the Lashkar-e-Taiba camp outside Lahore where he was trained to give inspirational speeches.
Pakistani authorities have previously arrested Saeed, but each time he has been cleared of terrorism charges.
"Many times I have been arrested on the order of America and India ... [but] the Lahore high court freed me and also my organization, saying we were innocent of terrorism charges and did not participate in any terrorist activities," Saeed said.