The authorized case in opposition to Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has acquired a recent dimension in India. In July 2026, the Nationwide Investigation Company named Saeed in a supplementary chargesheet within the Pahalgam terror attack case, charging him in his particular person capability and because the founder and chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its energetic proxy, The Resistance Entrance (TRF). The NIA talked about a cross-border conspiracy behind the April 22, 2025 assault, which killed 26 civilians. A particular NIA courtroom subsequently issued a non-bailable warrant in opposition to Saeed.The event got here as Mumbai Police individually started proceedings for a trial in absentia in opposition to Saeed and 5 different Pakistan-based accused within the 2008 Mumbai terror assaults. The proclamation covers Saeed, LeT operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Sajid Mir, Abu Alqama, Asim alias Abu Qahafa and Main Abdur Rehman Pasha. The police have additionally approached the Union dwelling ministry to facilitate service of the proclamation orders by means of Interpol.The 2 circumstances, separated by 17 years, convey collectively totally different phases of LeT’s historical past. One issues an assault in Kashmir, the area that turned the organisation’s principal battlefield within the Nineties. The opposite issues the Mumbai assaults, which demonstrated how far LeT’s operational attain had expanded past the Kashmir insurgency.However LeT didn’t start in Kashmir, nor did Hafiz Saeed first emerge as a militant chief there. The organisation’s institutional roots might be traced to the Afghan jihad of the Eighties, when Pakistan turned a serious centre for the mobilisation, coaching and motion of Islamist fighters.
LeT’s main assaults
The Afghan conflict that created LeT’s foundations
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 created an surroundings wherein Islamist networks from Pakistan and different elements of the Muslim world expanded quickly. Among the many outstanding figures related to this mobilisation was Palestinian scholar Abdullah Azzam, who helped organise overseas volunteers for the Afghan jihad and promoted the thought of jihad as a broader obligation extending past a single battlefield.It was on this surroundings that Azzam labored with Hafiz Saeed, a Pakistani Sunni scholar who had studied in Saudi Arabia. In response to Bruce Riedel’s Lethal Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Way forward for the World Jihad, the 2 have been concerned in establishing Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI), a non secular organisation that mixed missionary exercise with help for jihad. MDI developed coaching infrastructure in Afghanistan, together with in Kunar province, the place recruits may achieve battlefield expertise. Riedel additionally information hyperlinks between the organisation and Pakistan’s Inter-Companies Intelligence (ISI).Lashkar-e-Taiba subsequently emerged because the navy wing related to this community. The US state division describes LeT as having fashioned within the late Eighties because the militant wing of MDI, an organisation initially established in opposition to the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. The Australian authorities dates LeT’s formation as a navy organisation to 1989.The precise formation date subsequently varies relying on whether or not the institution of MDI, the creation of its navy wing or the later formalisation of LeT is being referred to. What’s clearer is the sequence: the Afghan jihad supplied the organisation’s early ideological, human and coaching infrastructure, whereas the tip of the Soviet conflict opened the way in which for that infrastructure to be redirected in the direction of different conflicts.
Why Lashkar-e-Taiba was established
LeT’s early goal was formed by two related aims: participation within the Afghan jihad and preparation for jihad in Kashmir and India. Riedel describes MDI’s goal as making use of the expertise of the Afghan conflict to Kashmir and India, together with coaching Kashmiris alongside Afghan mujahideen so they might achieve fight expertise.The altering state of affairs in Afghanistan accelerated that transition. The Soviet withdrawal meant that the battlefield that had introduced collectively hundreds of militants was now not the identical. On the identical time, violence in Jammu and Kashmir was rising sharply.The Australian authorities’s account of LeT’s historical past says the organisation was initially fashioned to wage militant jihad in opposition to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and shifted its focus to the insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir through the Nineties after Soviet troops withdrew. It identifies the organisation’s acknowledged goal as uniting Kashmir with Pakistan, whereas noting that its broader ideological aims prolonged past Kashmir.Kashmir thus turned the subsequent main theatre wherein the organisation may deploy the personnel, coaching and networks developed through the Afghan conflict.
From Kunar to Kashmir
The shift in the direction of Kashmir coincided with the speedy development of the insurgency there. Riedel information that incidents of violence in Kashmir rose from 390 in 1988 to 2,100 in 1989 and almost 4,000 in 1990. Towards this backdrop, Saeed’s organisation started establishing infrastructure in and round Kashmir whereas sustaining coaching amenities in Pakistan and Afghanistan.LeT’s emergence additionally coincided with modifications among the many numerous teams combating in Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Entrance advocated an impartial Kashmir, whereas Pakistan’s safety institution more and more favoured teams dedicated to the territory’s integration with Pakistan. Riedel describes efforts to strengthen pro-Pakistan organisations and isolate the JKLF, which was considered too impartial. Hizbul Mujahideen turned a serious pro-Pakistan militant drive, whereas LeT developed its personal community and capabilities.By the Nineties, Kashmir had develop into LeT’s principal operational theatre. The organisation developed coaching and recruitment networks and directed fighters in the direction of assaults on Indian safety forces. Stephen Tankel, in Lashkar-e-Taiba: From 9/11 to Mumbai, describes Kashmir because the group’s main goal whilst its connections to the broader world jihadist motion expanded.This distinction is vital. LeT developed relationships with al Qaida and different jihadist teams, however its core focus remained India and Kashmir. Riedel equally distinguishes between the totally different aims of the teams working within the area, noting that the Afghan Taliban remained primarily centered on Afghanistan whereas LeT targeting South Asia. On the operational degree, nonetheless, their cooperation elevated.
Who’s Hafiz Saeed
Hafiz Saeed – From cleric to terrorist
Saeed’s prominence grew alongside the institutional growth of MDI and LeT. He was not merely the chief of an armed organisation. The community round him mixed non secular propagation, schooling, charity and terror exercise.Riedel describes Saeed as a outstanding Pakistani Sunni scholar who labored with Azzam in growing MDI. The organisation’s mixture of spiritual exercise and navy infrastructure supplied the muse for the later development of LeT.LeT’s recruitment base was additionally intently related to Pakistani society. Riedel writes that the organisation was predominantly Punjabi and recruited from most of the identical communities and neighbourhoods because the Pakistani military and ISI. He additionally describes LeT camps positioned close to military bases and the involvement of retired navy personnel in coaching fighters.The character and extent of state help for LeT has remained a matter of dispute, however the organisation’s relationship with Pakistan’s safety institution turned an vital a part of its historical past. The United Nations Safety Council identifies LeT as a Pakistan-based organisation and information its hyperlinks with al Qaida and the Taliban, in addition to its use of Jamaat-ud-Dawa for monetary, logistical and infrastructural help.
LeT survives Pakistani ban after 9/11
The September 11, 2001 assaults modified the surroundings for militant organisations working from Pakistan. America designated LeT as a Overseas Terrorist Organisation in December 2001, whereas Pakistan banned the group in January 2002.The ban, nonetheless, didn’t remove the community. The US state division says Saeed subsequently modified the group’s identify to Jamaat-ud-Dawa and expanded its humanitarian actions, whereas persevering with to disseminate its message by means of JuD’s media retailers.Riedel equally writes that though LeT was formally banned, it continued to function and Saeed remained in cost. He describes the organisation’s massive facility at Muridke close to Lahore, which included colleges, dormitories, a garment manufacturing facility, an iron foundry and a mosque.This construction helped the community preserve a presence past its armed operations. Spiritual establishments, charitable exercise, fundraising and recruitment supplied a broader organisational base that would proceed even when the LeT identify itself confronted restrictions.The United Nations says LeT used JuD as a entrance by means of which it supplied monetary, logistical and infrastructural help for terrorist exercise. It additionally information that an al Qaida operative, Abu Zubaydah, was captured in 2002 in a LeT secure home in Faisalabad, illustrating the organisation’s connections to the broader jihadist community.
4 a long time of evolution
From Kashmir insurgency to Mumbai
The years after 2001 noticed LeT’s operational attain lengthen past the standard Kashmir battlefield. The United Nations information that the organisation performed terrorist operations in opposition to navy and civilian targets from the Nineties onwards, together with assaults in New Delhi and Mumbai and the December 2001 Parliament assault, wherein Jaish-e-Mohammed was additionally concerned.The 2008 Mumbai assaults represented probably the most important enlargement of that attain. Ten attackers carried out coordinated assaults throughout Mumbai between November 26 and 29, killing 166 individuals. The assault focused a number of areas, together with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal Palace Lodge, the Oberoi-Trident and Nariman Home.The operation additionally demonstrated the organisational depth behind LeT’s assaults. Riedel’s account particulars the function of David Coleman Headley, who joined LeT in Pakistan and later performed reconnaissance in Mumbai. Between 2005 and 2008, Headley travelled repeatedly to India, learning targets, recording areas and reporting again to LeT.The Mumbai operation subsequently represented greater than an extension of the Kashmir insurgency. It demonstrated the organisation’s skill to plan and execute a posh assault removed from its conventional theatre whereas drawing on personnel, coaching and logistical networks developed over a long time.
Why Afghanistan remained a part of the community
The shift to Kashmir didn’t finish LeT’s involvement in Afghanistan. As a substitute, the 2 theatres turned related by means of overlapping militant networks.Riedel wrote that LeT turned more and more energetic in Afghanistan, together with operations in opposition to Indian pursuits and clashes with Nato forces. He additionally described rising operational hyperlinks between LeT and the Afghan Taliban, notably the Haqqani community.The United Nations likewise information LeT’s exercise in Afghanistan and its hyperlinks with al Qaida and the Taliban. The Australian authorities has documented LeT’s continued presence in Afghanistan and reported that the UN estimated the group had near 1,000 members working there in Might 2020.Afghanistan subsequently remained an vital a part of LeT’s community even after Kashmir turned its essential operational focus. The relationships, coaching environments and infrastructure developed through the Afghan jihad continued to supply connections to different militant organisations.
Saeed’s authorized historical past and the Pahalgam case
Saeed’s subsequent authorized historical past illustrates the distinction between Pakistan’s formal motion in opposition to LeT and the organisation’s continued existence by means of related constructions.Pakistan arrested Saeed in 2019 on terrorism-financing expenses. He was convicted in a number of circumstances and acquired extra sentences in subsequent proceedings. The UN Safety Council’s present sanctions data says Saeed is in Pakistani custody serving a cumulative 78-year sentence following convictions in seven terrorism-financing circumstances.India, in the meantime, has continued to pursue him over alleged involvement in main terror assaults attributed to LeT.The most recent growth is the NIA’s supplementary chargesheet within the Pahalgam case. The company has named Saeed each individually and because the chief of LeT and TRF, alleging that he was a part of the broader conspiracy behind the April 2025 assault.The next non-bailable warrant adopted the NIA’s request for Saeed’s arrest and custodial interrogation. In the meantime, Mumbai Police has begun the method for an in-absentia trial in opposition to Saeed and 5 different Pakistan-based accused within the 26/11 case.
From Afghan jihad to Kashmir
From Afghan jihad to Pahalgam
Lashkar-e-Taiba’s four-decade historical past might be traced by means of a sequence of adjusting battlefields and organisational varieties. Its foundations have been laid through the Afghan jihad, when Hafiz Saeed and Abdullah Azzam helped construct MDI and the networks round it. After the Soviet withdrawal, the organisation redirected a lot of its expertise and infrastructure in the direction of Kashmir, the place it turned a serious Pakistan-based militant group.The 2002 ban didn’t erase the community. It tailored by means of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and different related constructions, whereas sustaining non secular, charitable and recruitment networks throughout Pakistan. Its hyperlinks with militant teams working in Afghanistan additionally survived, whilst India and Kashmir remained its central focus.The Mumbai assaults confirmed how far that community may challenge violence past Kashmir. The Pahalgam investigation has now introduced the story again to the identical area the place LeT established a lot of its early operational id.The most recent authorized proceedings in opposition to Saeed subsequently sit on the finish of a historical past that started not in Mumbai or Pahalgam, however within the Afghan jihad of the Eighties.
