Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who is based in Pakistan, is suspected of masterminding the 2008 attacks in which 166 people were killed.
The United States has offered a $10?million (pounds 6.2m) bounty for the founder of the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group blamed for the Mumbai terrorist attacks, despite fresh attempts to reset troubled relations with their regional ally.
Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who is based in Pakistan, is suspected of masterminding the 2008 attacks in which 166 people were killed. The move will upset Islamabad, which fears a spate of terrorist reprisals if he is detained.
Saeed was released from house arrest in 2009 and is free to travel the country. He addressed a rally in Islamabad last week urging Pakistan not to reopen its Afghan border to Nato supply convoys and makes frequent television appearances. The border was closed last November after US aircraft mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Saeed, whose bounty is the same sum offered by the US for the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, denies that he had any role in the Mumbai attacks.
"We are not hiding in caves for bounties to be set on finding us. I think the US is frustrated because we are taking out countrywide protests against the resumption of Nato supplies and drone strikes," he told Al Jazeera yesterday.
The move, hailed by India's foreign ministry as "sending a strong signal to LeT", is likely to put further strain on relations between the US and Pakistan, who were forced into an awkward alliance after the September 11 attacks.
It comes despite new US attempts to reset the alliance, with lowered expectations and fewer feuds after a disastrous 2011 that brought ties close to breaking point. A senior State Department official is due to arrive in Islamabad today as Pakistani politicians continue to consider whether to allow Nato supply convoys to resume using the country's roads.
Recent weeks have brought a series of high-level meetings on the sidelines of international summits, as officials quietly try to mend the damage while the world focuses on Syria, Iran and the Greek economic crisis.
A US official told The Daily Telegraph that relations had started to enter a calmer period. "The new form of the relationship is not about asking for what we really want - but what is possible," he said. "To stop coming with big requests, but working together where it is politically appropriate for both sides."
The past year has been marked by a series of public rows and diplomatic breakdowns. It hit a low point when US special forces launched a covert raid to kill Osama bin Laden in May last year.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}