LeT man designated as terrorist by Obama contesting against Imran

Talha Saeed is the son of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

The 49-year-old Talha Saeed, who is contesting the upcoming election in Pakistan against Imran Khan, was designated as a terrorist in August 2012 by the then Barack Obama administration in the United States. Saeed is the son of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

This is the second time that Talha will contest the elections. He had contested the 2018 June election under the banner of Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek from seat NA-91 in Sargodha, which is the Saeeds’ hometown. This time he is contesting from NA-127 in Lahore on the ticket of Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML). Interestingly, in 2018, Hafiz Saeed’s son-in-law, Hafiz Khalid Walid, who too was designated as a terrorist by the Obama administration, had contested the election from seat number PP-167. Both of them had lost.