The US has offered a $10 million bounty for the founder of the Pakistani Islamist militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT or Army of the Pure), blamed for the 2008 strike on Mumbai in which 166 people died, in a move that threatens to further complicate Washington’s ties with Islamabad.
Hafiz Saeed founded LeT in the 1980s, allegedly with assistance from the Pakistani army’s inter service intelligence directorate to put pressure on nuclear rival India over the disputed territory of Kashmir divided between the neighbours but claimed by both.
Under pressure from the US, Pakistan banned LeT in 2002, but it resurfaced almost instantly under another name and has continued with its subversive activities.
