Saeed, son of Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, told the gathering that he and his followers had taken a pledge to wage jihad and would continue making sacrifices as long as they remained alive and capable of doing so. Video of the address, delivered in Sheikhupura on September 5, circulated widely this week.
"We are those who took the pledge of jihad," Saeed said, invoking the Prophet Muhammad while presenting the campaign as a religious obligation. He then turned to India, claiming Muslims had ruled the subcontinent for 500 years and questioning whether those governing from Delhi had forgotten "who Delhi belonged to" and who had controlled other parts of the country.
The remarks marked another public intervention by Saeed centred on anti-India mobilisation and militant religious themes. His speech also included praise for Pakistan's army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, whom he described as a Hafiz of the Quran. Saeed claimed Munir had revived the concepts of faith, piety and jihad, language that has featured in Pakistan Army mottos and militant propaganda.
Saeed's public appearance is significant because he has been formally designated a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities Act. A Ministry of Home Affairs notification issued on April 8, 2022, identified him as a senior LeT leader and head of the organisation's cleric wing.
The notification accused Saeed of involvement in recruitment, fundraising and the planning and execution of LeT attacks targeting India and India's interests in Afghanistan. It also said he had travelled to LeT centres across Pakistan and used sermons to advocate jihad against India, Israel and the United States.
The United States Treasury has separately identified Talha Saeed as a prominent LeT leader with a long-standing role in the group's propaganda, media and recruitment structures. Treasury records say he had held leadership responsibilities within LeT since at least the mid-2000s and had worked on indoctrination programmes, websites, radio operations and publications linked to the organisation.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and several governments. The group was responsible for the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, in which 166 people were killed over nearly three days. Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has long been identified by India and the United States as the organisation's founder and a central figure behind its network.
Talha Saeed's speech did not set out a specific operational threat, target or timetable. The available video shows political and religious incitement rather than details of a planned attack, making it important to distinguish the inflammatory rhetoric from evidence of an imminent operation.
His historical claim about Muslim rule was used rhetorically to challenge India's political authority and to frame hostility in civilisational terms. The assertion does not alter recognised international borders or legal sovereignty, and Saeed offered no factual basis for connecting medieval political control with present territorial claims.
The address also highlighted the continued visibility of LeT-linked figures at public events in Pakistan despite the group's international proscription. Pakistan has repeatedly said it acts against UN-designated militant organisations and individuals under its counter-terrorism and sanctions obligations, while India has maintained that anti-India groups retain space to operate, raise support and disseminate propaganda from Pakistani territory.
No public statement from Pakistan's government responding specifically to Saeed's Sheikhupura remarks was available at the time of publication. There was also no independently verified indication that authorities had opened action over the speech.
Saeed's comments followed the pattern cited in India's 2022 designation order, which specifically referred to his use of sermons to promote jihad and his role within LeT's organisational structure. His appearance in Sheikhupura again placed those activities in a public setting rather than a clandestine forum.