Background
In 1950, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was born in Sargodha, Punjab. His family lost 36 of its members when migrating from Shimla to Lahore during the Partition of India. He is married and his wife's name is Maimoona.
General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq appointed Hafiz Muhammad Saeed to the Council on Islamic Ideology, and he later served as an Islamic Studies teacher at the University of Engineering and Technology (Lahore), Pakistan. He was sent to Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s by the university for higher studies where he met Saudi Sheikhs who were taking part in the Afghan jihad. They inspired him to join his colleague, Professor Zafar Iqbal, in taking an active role supporting the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. There he met some youth who later became his companions.
In 1987 Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, along with Abdullah Azzam, founded Markaz Dawa-Wal-Irshad, a group with roots in the Jamait Ahl-e-Hadis.
This organization spawned the jihadist group Lashkar-e-Taiba in 1990, with the help of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence officers.
Lashkar's primary target is the disputed Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. He is also quoted as saying, "There cannot be any peace while India remains intact. Cut them, cut them so much that they kneel before you and ask for mercy." Hafiz Muhammad Saeed holds two masters degrees from the University of Punjab and a specialization in Islamic Studies & Arabic Language from King Saud University.
Read more about this topic: Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
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