LeT leader who indoctrinated 26/11 terrorists who attacked Mumbai dies in Pakistan jail
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) leader and outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founding member Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, who had indoctrinated terrorists for the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, was found dead inside his prison cell in Sheikhupura town of Punjab province, Pakistani authorities confirmed on Tuesday.
Speaking to TOI, authorities claimed that the JuD leader’s death had occurred due to cardiac arrest on Monday. “It was a severe heart attack and it caused sudden death on the spot in a prison cell,” a well-placed source confirmed.
His funeral prayers were offered at 9 am (local time) on Tuesday at LeT’s headquartersin Muridke, near Lahore. Bhuttavi (78) was believed to be a key figure responsible for indoctrination of LeT terrorists and its affiliated outfits. He, however, was not sentenced for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A court in Pakistan had sentenced him to prison time along with two other JuD leaders, Malik Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, in August 2020 for financing terror, ahead of a September 2020 deadline for Pakistan to avoid being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global financial watchdog, for failing to curb “terror financing”.
Each of them were handed more than 16 years in jail to be served concurrently. The men were considered to be close associates of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed. Salam was described as the interim leader of the group during the brief periods when Saeed was arrested following the Mumbai attacks, and running its network of seminaries. In mid-2002, Bhuttavi was in charge of establishing an LeT organisational base in Lahore.
The US treasury department had sanctioned him in September 2011, saying he had been responsible for fundraising, recruitment and indoctrination of LeT operatives for 20 years.“Bhuttavi…helped prepare the operatives for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks by delivering lectures on the merits of martyrdom. Bhuttavi has issued fatwas authorizing LeT/JuD’s militant operations, has instructed group leaders and members, and is responsible for LeT/JuD’s madrassah network,” the US treasury department had said at the time.
The UNSC designated Bhuttavi a terrorist in 2012 for being associated with al-Qaida for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities” by LeT. At the time, the UNSC described Bhuttavi as a founding member of LeT and deputy to Hafiz Saeed.
“Bhuttavi has served as the acting emir of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (LeT/JuD) on at least two occasions when Saeed has been detained. Saeed was detained days after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and held until June 2009. Bhuttavi handled the group’s day-to-day functions during this period and made independent decisions on behalf of the organization,” the Security Council notification said. The UNSC notification added that Bhuttavi helped prepare the operatives for the November 2008 terrorist assault in Mumbai by delivering lectures on the merits of martyrdom operations.
