'I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to,' said Saeed.
A $10 million bounty was placed on the head of a Pakistani militant leader after the United States obtained evidence that he had been in close contact with Osama bin Laden, planning terrorist attacks, according to a former American intelligence official.
Documents found by American special forces at bin Laden's final hideaway in the Pakistani military city of Abbottabad last year apparently linked Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), with the al-Qaeda leader.
Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and adviser to President Barack Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan, told The Daily Telegraph that the evidence showed bin Laden played a key role in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Ten terrorists, thought to be from Saeed's group, stormed hotels and a train station in Mumbai, killing 166 people.
Riedel said the close connection between bin Laden and Saeed lasted until the world's most wanted man was shot dead in May last year.
"Bin Laden communicated with Saeed and others via courier. He practised very good operations security. The two had a long-standing relationship going back to the creation of LeT in the 1980s," he said. "Bin Laden provided some of the seed money to start the group."
The US earlier claimed that it had issued the bounty for information leading to Saeed's arrest and conviction in response to his increasingly brazen appearances, as part of a political movement to halt American drone strikes. However, Saeed showed no sign of being intimidated yesterday, mocking the US during a defiant press conference held close to the country's military headquarters in Rawalpindi - in a clear illustration of his ability to move freely through Pakistan. "I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me," he said. "I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to."
He also denied being in contact with bin Laden, or helping to shelter him, during the last years of his life. "We are Pakistani. We didn't need Osama bin Laden," he told The Daily Telegraph.
Saeed was arrested after the Mumbai attacks but later released on appeal.
He said the bounty had been imposed at the behest of India and was motivated by his campaign with the Defence of Pakistan Council, which has been holding anti-American rallies and demanding freedom for Kashmir.
He appeared flanked by leaders of the council, who announced a nationwide protest on Friday.
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