BackLakhvi’s release order: India summons Pakistan envoy, lodges strong protest
A Pakistani court suspended detention order of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind, and ordered his immediate release
Premium(Reuters)
New Delhi/Islamabad: India on Friday protested against a Pakistani court squashing a detention order against Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, potentially paving the way for his release.
Anil Wadhwa, secretary (east) in the foreign ministry, standing in for foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, who is in Colombo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on an official visit, summoned Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit to register India’s protest against the possibility of Lakhvi being set free, a person familiar with the developments said.
Another person in the know of the matter said India’s embassy in Islamabad had also conveyed India’s protest with the Pakistani government. Both the people declined to be named.
This is the second time that Lakhvi, accused over the siege that left at least 166 dead in Mumbai, has been ordered to be set free. The last time was in December, when Lakhvi was granted bail by an anti-terror court. At that time, the Pakistani government had quickly slapped a detention order on him. The Islamabad high court suspended that order, only for the supreme court to reinstate it in January.
The fresh irritant to bilateral relations came less than two weeks after Jaishankar visited Islamabad as part of his visit to South-Asian countries.
On Friday, the high court once again set aside the detention order, government lawyer Jehangir Jadoon told AFP news service, adding that a detailed judgement explaining the decision was expected later.
Friday’s ruling means Lakhvi could be released, though the government can still appeal to the supreme court. For now, he remains in jail.
The December bail order led Modi to describe it as a “a shock to all those who believe in humanity".
Junior home minister Kiren Rijiju said on Friday, “Pakistani agencies must produce incriminating evidence available in the court of law in Pakistan. And there should be no discrimination in showing the character of terrorists. Terrorists cannot be bad or good terrorists" .
“They must ensure that Lakhvi doesn’t get out on bail and doesn’t get out of jail. If proper legal measures are taken then I am sure Lakhvi will not get out of jail," Rijiju added.
India says that the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) planned, coordinated and implemented the attacks in Mumbai in 2008. The 60-hour siege was beamed live on television. Indian commandos battled the 10 heavily armed gunmen, who arrived by sea on the evening of 26 November. It took the authorities three days to regain full control and New Delhi has long said there is evidence that official agencies in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack.
Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged in Pakistan but their cases have made virtually no progress in more than five years. The Indian government accuses Islamabad of prevaricating over the trials, while Pakistan has claimed India failed to hand over crucial evidence.
Islamabad denies the charge but LeT’s charitable arm Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), seen as a front for the militant group, operates openly in the country. LeT founder Hafiz Saeed leads a high-profile existence in Pakistan despite a $10 million US government bounty offered for his capture, regularly appearing on TV and addressing large public gatherings of his followers.
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