26/11 mastermind Saeed and Lakhvi ran operations from jail
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar-e-Taiba's operations commander Zaki-ur- Rahman Lakhvi were running their terror groups while still in custody in Pakistan following the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, said US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.
The information is contained in a non-paper prepared by the American intelligence community, and shared with the Pakistan in August 2009 at the direction of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
It says the US intelligence community assesses that Hafiz Saeed is leader of LeT and Lakhvi is LeT's operations commander and they continue to run the organisation despite being detained for their role in the Mumbai attacks.
The document says that Hafiz Saeed continues to lead both the LeT and its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah and that some of the funds collected in the name of charitable activities have also been used for planning terror attacks.
"We also judge that they have planned, directed, and executed LT attacks throughout South Asia and likely have used some funds collected in the name of JuD's charitable activities to support multiple LT terrorist operations, including the November Mumbai attacks," it said.
"The Community assesses that Saeed continues to lead both organisations. However, the Community is unable to assess to what extent senior JuD leaders such as Saeed are involved in specific terrorist operations or the level of detail to which they are knowledgeable about specific past and pending attacks," it said.
It says as of mid-July, Lakhvi was responsible for the LeT's military operations budget of Pakistani Rupees 365 million that is approximately USD 5.2 million per year.
India considers Lakhvi as the mastermind of Mumbai attacks and Saeed as one of its most wanted terrorists. The United Nations declared JuD a terrorist organisation in December 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader.
