On May 29, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Abdul Salam Bhuttavi died, at the age of 78, in a Pakistani prison while serving a sentence for financing terrorism. He trained the terrorists who carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks 2008.
It was reported that Bhuttavi died on May 29 afternoon after suffering a heart attack while incarcerated in Sheikhupura, located in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The front groups for the LeT also released a film allegedly depicting Bhuttavi’s funeral, which was held on May 30 morning at the terror group’s ‘markaz’ or centre in Muridke, close to Lahore.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) designed Bhuttavi as a terrorist in 2012. He was convicted of financial terrorism along with Malik Zafar Iqbal and Abdul Rahman Makki, the brother-in-law of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed. Bhuttavi was sentenced to 16-and-a-half years imprisonment.
Furthermore, Abdul Salam Bhuttavi was named in one of Pakistan’s foreign ministry’s two statutory regulatory orders dated August 18, 2020, to carry out sanctions imposed by the UNSC’s sanctions against hundreds of terrorists and 93 terror organisations. Notably, when Pakistani authorities arrested the LeT founder Hafiz Saeed in 2002 and 2008, Bhuttavi served as the terror group’s acting chief.
Role in 26/11 Mumbai Attacks
The terror organisation LeT sent a 10-member team which attacked several locations in Mumbai in November 2008, resulting in the death of 166 people with several others injured, including certain foreign nationals. It is pertinent to note that while Pakistan has detained 7 LeT members involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, including the operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, their trial has not advanced.
The US Treasury Department said Bhuttavi had been in charge of funding, recruiting, and indoctrinating LeT operatives for 20 years and imposed a sanction against him in September 2011. The US Treasury Department said, “Bhuttavi…helped prepare the operatives for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks by delivering lectures on the merits of martyrdom. Bhuttavi has issued fatwas authorising LeT/JuD’s militant operations, has instructed group leaders and members, and is responsible for LeT/JuD’s madrassah network”.
For having ties to al-Qaeda and being accused of “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities” by LeT, the UNSC classified Bhuttavi as a terrorist in 2012. Bhuttavi was listed as a founder member of the LeT and Hafiz Saeed’s deputy at the time by the Security Council.
The UNSC stated, “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 organisation. Saeed was also detained in May 2002”.
The network of terrorism is constantly breaking, and culprits responsible for the Mumbai attacks are facing the law. Recently, the US District Court of California approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian businessman of Pakistani descent, to India, where he was sought for involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
Tahawwur Rana was arrested in the US on an extradition request by India for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The US court consented to the Indian request, through the US Government, for his extradition.
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