Pakistani group says ‘U.S. goes mad in hating Muslims’

A Pakistani group has rejected as an ‘attack on Islam and Muslims’ the U.S. announcement of bounty of 10 million dollars on Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The U.S. Rewards for Justice website says that Hafiz Saeed is the founding member of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a radical Islamist organization dedicated to installing Islamist rule over parts of India and Pakistan, and its military branch, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.

Saeed is suspected of masterminding numerous terrorist attacks, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in the deaths of 166 people, including six American citizens, the website said.

Spokesman of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Yayha Mujahid angrily reacted to the U.S. decision and said that Hafiz Saeed is not hiding anywhere and is freely addressing public rallies in Pakistan.

He said the U.S. announced rewards for Hafiz Saeed arrest as he has been campaigning against the possible restoration of NATO supply line and the U.S. drone strikes in the country’s tribal regions.

“Hafiz Saeed anti-U.S. campaign has baffled and Americans are in the state of confusion and the U.S. officials are giving continuously baseless statements against him”.

He said the U.S. decision will not restrict the activities of Hafiz Saeed and he will keep on his anti-US activities.

Pakistan has not yet reacted to the U.S. decision and Senator Mushahid Hussain, a leader of the PML-Q party in the ruling coalition condemned the decision and said it is aimed at ‘pleasing India’.