Source

The United States has offered a $10 million (£6.2 million) bounty for
the founder of the Pakistani militant group blamed for the 2008 attacks
in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed 166 people, a move that could
complicate US-Pakistan relations at a tense time.


Hafiz Saeed founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 1980s, allegedly with
Pakistani support to pressure India over the disputed territory of
Kashmir.Pakistan banned the group in 2002 under
pressure from the US, but it operates with relative freedom - even doing
charity work using government money.The US designated Lashkar-e-Taiba a foreign terrorist organisation in December 2001.

But Saeed operates
openly in Pakistan, giving public speeches and appearing on TV talk
shows. The US also offered up to two million dollars (£1.2 million) for
Lashkar-e-Taiba's deputy leader, Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who is
also Saeed's brother-in-law.The reward for Saeed is
one of the highest offered by the US and is equal to the amount for
Taliban chief Mullah Omar. Only Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama
bin Laden as al Qaida chief, fetches a higher bounty - $25 million
(£15.6 million).The bounties were posted on the US
state department rewards for justice website late on Monday, the US
embassy in Islamabad said.The state department
website describes Saeed as a former professor of Arabic and engineering
who heads an organisation "dedicated to installing Islamist rule over
parts of India and Pakistan". It also noted that six of the people
killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks were American citizens.Indian
external affairs minister SM Krishna welcomed the US announcement,
saying it would signal to Lashkar-e-Taiba and its patrons that the
international community remains united in fighting terrorism."The
decision reflects the commitment of India and the United States to
bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack to justice and
continuing efforts to combat terrorism," he said.A close aide to Saeed said the group was surprised by the decision and was formulating its response.

"Nobody in the Pakistani government talked to us about this, nor has anybody contacted us after this announcement," he said.

The
move comes at a particularly tense time in the troubled relationship
between the US and Pakistan. Pakistan's parliament is currently debating
a revised framework for relations with the US in the wake of American
airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November at two posts
along the Afghan border.Pakistan retaliated by
kicking the US out of a base used by American drones and closing its
border crossings to supplies meant for Nato troops in Afghanistan.The
US hopes the parliamentary debate will result in Pakistan reopening the
supply lines. The closure has been a headache for the US because it has
had to spend more money sending supplies through an alternate route
that runs through Central Asia. It also needs the route to withdraw
equipment as it seeks to pull most of its combat forces out of
Afghanistan by the end of 2014.But it is unclear
whether the US will be willing to meet Pakistan's demands, which include
higher transit fees for the supplies and an unconditional apology for
the airstrikes, which the US has said were an accident. Pakistan has
also demanded an end to American drone strikes in Pakistan, but it is
unclear if that will be tied to the reopening of the supply line.The
US state department issued a statement in February expressing concern
about the Lashkar-e-Taiba founder's appearance at a public rally in the
southern city of Karachi.Saeed has been particularly
high profile over the last few months as part of the leadership of the
Difa-e-Pakistan Council, or Defence of Pakistan Council, which has held a
series of large demonstrations demanding the government take an
aggressive stance towards the US and India.Lashkar-e-Taiba,
which means Army of the Pure, belongs to the Salafi movement, an
ultra-conservative branch of Islam similar to the Wahabi sect - the main
Islamic branch in Saudi Arabia from which al-Qa'ida partly emerged.
Lashkar-e-Taiba and al-Qa'ida operate separately but have been known to
help each other when their paths intersect.Analysts
and terrorism experts agree that Pakistan's intelligence agency, known
as the ISI, is still able to control Lashkar-e-Taiba, though the ISI
denies it. Fears have grown that pressure has been building within the
group to become even more ferocious and attack targets outside India -
possibly in the United States.After it was banned by
the Pakistani government in 2002, Lashkar-e-Taiba began operating under
the name of Jamaat-ud-Dawwa, its social welfare wing.It
carries out charitable works in scores of villages - partially funded
by the Punjab provincial government. It has used national disasters,
such as the devastating floods in 2010, as recruitment and fundraising
opportunities.The US declared Jamaat-ud-Dawwa a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.

Pakistan's
tolerance of Lashkar-e-Taiba is rooted in its fear of neighboring
India, with which it has fought three wars in 65 years. Analysts believe
Pakistan still sees the group as useful in pressuring India, especially
over Kashmir.There are also fears about what would
happen if Pakistan tried to crack down on the group, as it did with some
other groups under US pressure in the wake of the September 11, 2001
attacks. It lost control of some who turned against their former
patrons, and found itself also dealing with homegrown extremists.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has so far refused to turn against the government and
attack inside Pakistan.AP