Pahalgam Terror Attack: NIA Court Issues Non-Bailable Warrant Against LeT Chief Hafiz Saeed
Jammu: A special NIA court has issued a non-bailable warrant against Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan-based chief of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, in connection with a case pertaining to the ongoing probe into the Pahalgam terror attack. The order was passed by the Special Judge of the NIA Court on July 8, two days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a supplementary chargesheet against Saeed in the Pahalgam terror attack case.
Saeed, designated a global terrorist by India and the United States, is also considered the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. In the November 2008 Mumbai attack, which had lasted over three days, at least 166 people, among them American and Israeli citizens, had died. Till date, this remains the most horrific attack on the Indian soil carried out by Pakistan-based terrorists at the instigation of Pakistan’s military intelligence Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
The supplementary chargesheet, filed before the special NIA court in Jammu, charges the 76-year-old Saeed in both his personal capacity and as the chief of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its proxy front, The Resistance Front (TRF). He has been booked under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The supplementary chargesheet provides details of Pakistan’s conspiracy, Saeed’s role, and supporting evidence collected by the NIA in the case through meticulous scientific investigation and on-ground examination, the NIA has said.
Saeed is one of the world’s most wanted trans-national terrorists, primarily recognised as the co-founder and chief of LeT formed in the late 1980s. He founded LeT, one of the largest and most active terror networks in South Asia, especially for his operations to target India.
In order to fund his terror operations and evade international ban, Saeed set up prominent charity fronts, such as Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), which were used to radicalise people and channel millions of dollars into financing of terror. Because of his global operations, Saeed has also been designated a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council, apart from India and the US.
The NIA chargesheet was in continuation of the original 1,597-page chargesheet filed by the anti-terror agency on December 15 last year in which it named Pakistani handler Sajid Jatt as an accused, along with three terrorists killed by security forces during Operation Mahadev in July 2025.
The chargesheet filed in December also named two arrested accused — Parvaiz Ahmad and Bashir Ahmad Jothar, who had provided logistical support to the terrorists.
According to the court order, the NIA informed the court that absconding terrorist Saeed, a resident of Sargodha in Pakistan’s Punjab province, is an accused in Pahalgam terror attack and has been deliberately evading arrest. The agency sought the issuance of an open-dated non-bailable warrant against him to initiate further proceedings in the matter and take legal action against him at any further investigation.
“Arrest and custodial interrogation of the accused (Saeed) are necessary for a fair, complete and effective investigation. As such, non-bailable warrant of arrest is issued against him and is forwarded it to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), NIA Jammu, for execution in accordance with law,” the order said.
On April 22 last year, terrorists killed 26 people, 24 of them Hindu male tourists, at Baisaran meadow at Pahalgam in south Kashmir.
