LeT commander behind Pahalgam attack resurfaces at anti-India rally in Pakistan
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Saifullah Kasuri, the alleged mastermind behind the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, resurfaced in public on Wednesday, sharing a stage with Pakistani political leaders and other wanted terrorists at a political rally.The rally, organised by the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) to mark Youm-e-Takbeer, Pakistan's annual commemoration of its nuclear tests, featured inflammatory speeches and anti-India slogans. Among those present was Talha Saeed, son of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and a designated terrorist by India.advertisement'I was blamed as being the mastermind of the Pahalgam terror attack, now my name is famous in the entire world,' Kasuri said at the rally in Kasoor in Punjab province.
He is believed to have coordinated the brutal assault on the scenic Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, where terrorists belonging to The Resistance Front, a proxy for the Pakistan-based LeT, gunned down 26 people, mostly Hindu men.Addressing the crowd, Kasuri—also known by his alias Khalid—announced plans to build a centre, road, and hospital in Allahabad in the name of 'Mudassir Shaheed.' According to intelligence sources, Mudassir Ahmad was one of several high-profile terror operatives eliminated in India's retaliatory Operation Sindoor strikes following the Pahalgam massacre.The rally saw Talha Saeed, ranked 32nd on India's most wanted terrorist list, deliver a fiery address filled with jihadist slogans and 'Naara-e-Takbeer.' advertisementSaeed, who ran unsuccessfully for Parliament from Lahore's NA-122 seat in Pakistan's 2024 general elections, has continued his public association with the PMML, widely regarded as a political front for the banned LeT.The PMML has ramped up its anti-India rhetoric in recent weeks, staging protests across major Pakistani cities—Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and others—calling for Hafiz Saeed's release and accusing India of 'water aggression' for suspending the Indus Waters Treaty.While LeT remains banned both internationally and within Pakistan, groups like the PMML have enabled its leadership to retain political and ideological relevance. Hafiz Saeed, the UN-designated terrorist who masterminded the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is still seen as the ideological force behind the PMML's activities.India has strongly condemned Pakistan for mainstreaming terrorism, particularly in the wake of Operation Sindoor, which eliminated multiple high-value LeT-linked targets, including Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf, and Mudassir Ahmad—individuals implicated in the IC-814 hijacking and Pulwama bombing.
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