Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba founder Hafiz Saeed is the topmost man in India’s list of 50 “most wanted fugitives” made public Wednesday. India believes that Saeed, who roams free in Pakistan, is the mastermind of the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai and various other terror attacks carried out by the LeT in the country.
Notably high on the list are the names of suspected serving Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali along with those of top Lashkar commanders Sajid Majid, Sayed Abdul Rehman, alias Pasha, and Abu Hamza, all suspected of involvement in 26/11 and other terrorist activities in India. Sayed Abdul Rehman, number three on the list, is believed to be the founder of “home-grown” terrorist outfit Indian Mujahideen.
Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali have also been named by Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Headley during interrogation by US and Indian agencies as key conspirators in the 26/11 plot.
The list, which was given to Pakistan during the home-secretary-level talks between the two countries in March, also contains the names of 31 “Indian” fugitives believed to be hiding in Pakistan. The list comes at a time when Pakistan is in a fix over charges of sheltering Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden before he was killed by a US Seal team raiding a house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and over charges of providing safe havens for Indian fugitives like mafia don Dawood Ibrahim, at No. 8 on the list.
The list includes Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, the principal accused in the 2001 Parliament attack who was released in exchange for hostages in the Kandahar hijack episode of 1999, and top LeT commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi who is believed to be in a Pakistani jail for plotting the 26/11 attack.
It also includes names of top Al Qaeda operative Illyas Kashmiri, accused of transnational crime and conspiracies to commit various terrorist acts in India, and almost a dozen associates of Dawood; these include Memon Ibrahim, alias Tiger Memon, Shaikh Shakeel, alias Chhota Shakeel, Memon Ayub Abdul Razak, Anis Ibrahim Kaskar Shaikh, Anwar Ahmed Haji Jamal and Mohammed Ahmed Dosa, all involved in the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings.
Hizb-ul Mujahideen chief Sayeed Salahuddin, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Amanuliah Khan, Punjab terrorists Lakhbir Singh, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, Ranjit Singh, alias Neeta, and Wadhawa Singh are also named as among those India believes are hiding in Pakistan.
Rashid Abdullah, alias Abu Rehan, involved in the 2008 Bengaluru blasts, LeT commander Cheema Azam and Syed Zabiuddin Jabi, who was involved in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case, figure in the list. India also believes that Sufiyan Mufti, prime accused in the Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya murder case, is hiding in Pakistan. Indian Airlines IC 814 hijacking case accused Ibrahim Athar, Azhar Yusuf, Mistri Zahur Ibrahim, alias Bhola, Sayeed Shahid Akhtar, Shakir Mohammad, alias Ram Gopal Verma, and Abdul Rauf are also included in the list.
Key Dawood gang members Javed Patel, Salim Abdul Gani Gazi, Riyaz Abu Bakar Khatri, Munaf Abdul Majid Halari, Mohammad Tainur, Khan Bashir Ahmed Ainul Haq Khan, Yakub Khan, Mohammad Shafi Memon, Irfan Ahmed Gulzar, Feroz Abdul Rashid Khan, Ishaq Atta Husain, alias Ali Moosa, Sagir Sabir Ali Shaikh and Aftab Batki find mention in the list of most wanted fugitives. Three men accused in the 2003 explosion at Mumbai’s Mulund railway station — Nachan Akmal, Khan Wazhul Kamar and Chaneparambil Mohammed Bashir — and Yaqoob Khan Pathan, involved in recruitment of Indian boys for terrorist activities, and Amir Khan, who was involved in transnational crime, are also on the list.