On Thursday, January 11, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) confirmed that the founding member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, who was the deputy of Hafiz Saeed, is dead. He was also a major conspirator in the 26/11 attacks, and according to the UNSC, he passed away in May 2023 from a cardiac arrest.
Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, founding member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and deputy to Hafiz Saeed is 'Confirmed Deceased' pic.twitter.com/wFLKZAnOhw
— ANI (@ANI) January 11, 2024
The LeT-orchestrated 26/11 Mumbai attacks over the course of four days, killing as many as 166 people and injuring 300. In addition, the government of India has requested that Pakistan extradite Hafiz Saeed to India because he is a terrorist designated by the UN.
The UN reported in a press release on its official website that Bhuttavi, 77, passed away in Muridke, Punjab province, Pakistan, while he was in the custody of the Pakistan government.
“Bhuttavi died of cardiac arrest in Muridke, Punjab Province on 29 May 2023, while he was in the custody of the Government of Pakistan,” the UNSC’s statement read.
It further stated that Bhuttavi assumed responsibility for the group’s daily operations during the days following the terror strikes in Mumbai when Hafiz Saeed was detained. In June 2009, Hafiz Saeed was released from the custody of the Pakistani authorities. Hafiz Saeed, the leader of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawah organization and mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack, is currently serving a 78-year prison term in Pakistan.
In mid-2002, Bhuttavi was also in charge of setting up an organizational basis for the LeT in Lahore, Pakistan, according to the UNSC. It came to light on March 14, 2023, that Bhuttavi had ties with Al-Qaida due to his involvement with or supporting the activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Bhuttavi was the head of 150 JuD seminaries throughout Pakistan. She was born in Pattoki, in the Kasur region of Punjab, in August 1946. His hometown is Dipalpur in the Punjabi district of Okara, which is also the hometown of Lashkar terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack, in his confession in the narco analysis, provided a telltale insight into how the terror masterminds in Pakistan brainwashed poor men and their families into propagating the poison of Islamic jihad.
