Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, founding member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and deputy to LeT chief Hafiz Saeed is ‘confirmed dead’, according to an update by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Bhuttavi died of cardiac arrest in Punjab province in May last year while he was in government custody.
“Bhuttavi died of cardiac arrest in Muridke, Punjab Province on 29 May 2023 while he was in custody of the Government of Pakistan,” according to the UNSC update. “Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi was a founding member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and deputy to LeT emir Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Bhuttavi served as the acting emir of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba/Jamaat-ud-Dawa (LeT/JuD) on at least two occasions when Saeed was detained. Saeed was detained days after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and held until June 2009,” it added.
Read More: LeT Leader Bhuttavi, Who Trained Terrorists Involved in 2008 Mumbai Attacks, Dies in Pak Prison
Bhuttavi handled the group’s day-to-day functions during this period and made independent decisions on behalf of the organisation. “Saeed was also detained in May 2002. He was also LeT/JuD’s preeminent scholar, had instructed its leaders and members, and issued fatwas authorizing LeT/JuD operations. Bhuttavi helped prepare the operatives for the November 2008 terrorist assault in Mumbai, India, by delivering lectures on the merits of martyrdom operations,” the update read.
In mid-2002, Bhuttavi was in charge of establishing LeT organisational base in Lahore. The UN Security Council designated Bhuttavi as a terrorist in 2012. Years later the Pakistan government arrested and charged him for terror financing along with the founder of the terrorist group Hafiz Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rahman Makki, in August 2020. He was sentenced to 16 and a half years in prison.
Comments
0 comment