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One of India’s most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the deadly Mumbai attacks, Mir was once the foreign recruiter for LeT
Mir (in photo) and his associates, Abu Qahafa and Mazhar Iqbal, were coordinating real-time with the 26/11 attackers.
A terrorist declared dead, brought back to life due to international pressure, “found” alive and then arrested—As India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri trained guns on Pakistan during the official briefing on Operation Sindoor, he cited the example of 26/11 Mumbai attack handler Sajid Mir to drive home the point that the neighbour has historically been a safe haven for those plotting against India.
“The features of Pahalgam attack tie in with Pakistan’s long track record of perpetrating cross-border terrorism in India, which is well-documented and beyond question. Pakistan also has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for terrorists from around the world, with international proscribed terrorists enjoying impunity there. In addition, Pakistan has been known to willfully mislead the world and international forums such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In the Sajid Mir case, this terrorist was declared dead, and then, in response to international pressure, brought back to life, found alive and then arrested,” Misri said.
The foreign secretary’s comments came as India avenged the killings of 26 civilians in the Pahalgam terror attack with precision strikes deep inside Pakistan’s Punjab and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including headquarters of terror outfits JeM and LeT.
But who is Sajid Mir and how did his case expose Pakistan’s duplicity in the fight against terror?
One of India’s most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the deadly Mumbai attacks, Mir, according to FBI, underwent plastic surgery after the 2008 attack. He was once the foreign recruiter for LeT and served David Coleman Headley, the principal handler for the American terrorist.
A US Justice Department document describes how Mir and his associates, Abu Qahafa and Mazhar Iqbal, were in real-time telephonic contact with the 26/11 attackers. In fact, it was Mir who had suggested that Headley change his name from ‘Dawood Gilani’ to ‘David Coleman Headley’ so that he could pass off as an American, giving him a smokescreen to work on behalf of Lashkar. Mir also suggested that Headley open an immigration office in Mumbai.
As the hunt began for the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack and India pointed fingers at Pakistan, the neighbour denied Mir’s existence, even declaring him dead in 2021, though Western countries demanded proof of his death.
As the issue became a major sticking point in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on eliminating terror—and bailing out the bankrupt country—Islamabad was forced to relent and in April 2022, Mir was arrested in Lahore on charges related to terror financing. A Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted him in May 2022, sentencing him to 15.5 years in prison and imposing a fine of PKR 420,000.
Pakistan tom-tommed its “achievement” before the FATF, telling the agency that it had arrested and prosecuted Mir in order to seek its removal from the global anti-laundering body’s ‘Grey List’.
The Mir saga, however, did not end here. In a sudden development in 2023, the terrorist was rushed to hospital and placed on a ventilator after he was reportedly “poisoned” while lodged inside a Pakistan jail. Though there were reports of threat to Mir’s life, there were reports that Pakistan could be using his hospitalisation as a “ruse” to soften the blow against him.
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