Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi, a founding member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) and deputy to Hafiz Saeed, has been confirmed dead by the United Nations Security Council.

Bhuttavi, a key conspirator in the 26/11 attacks, died of a cardiac arrest in May 2023 in the Punjab province while under the custody of the Pakistan government, the UNSC added.

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Bhuttavi was designated a terrorist by the UN Security Council for his involvement in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts for LeT. A summary by the UN committee describes him as a founding member of LeT who served as the acting emir of LeT and JuD on at least two occasions during Hafiz Saeed's detentions.

Born in August 1946 in Pattoki, Kasur district of Punjab, Bhuttavi was the head of 150 JuD seminaries in Pakistan. His native town is Dipalpur, Okara district of Punjab, from where the lone captured LeT attacker Ajmal Kasab hailed.

What is Lashkar-e-Taiba?

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), formed in 1990 and based in Pakistan, primarily opposes 'Indian control over Jammu and Kashmir'.

LeT is known for conducting lethal attacks against Indian officials, troops, and civilians in the Kashmir region and other states of India and Afghanistan.

Founded by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed in 1990 as the military wing of the Pakistani Islamist organisation Markaz-ad-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI), LeT operated under the Ahl-e-Hadith (AeH) interpretation of Islam until ostensibly splitting from MDI in 2002.

Initially involved in resisting the Soviet presence in Afghanistan, LeT shifted its focus to Jammu and Kashmir in the early 1990s when the state rebelled against Indian control.

It has been designated a terrorist group by numerous countries.