Pakistan frees Mumbai attack mastermind Lakhvi, blames India for delayed trial

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on Friday released Zaki- ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks, from jail, a day after a court declared his detention illegal.

“Authorities at the Adiyala jail in Rawalpindi have released Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi under the LHC order”, said an official. “He has been shifted to a safe place by the security agencies”, the official added.

Other sources said that Lakhvi was released overnight without any announcements from jail authorities or the Jamaat-ud Dawa, the organisation that the accused is affiliated with. On Thursday, the Lahore High Court ordered for immediate release of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

The Punjab government last month detained Lakhvi before he could be released from jail after a court ordered his release.

Earlier, he was granted bail by an anti-terror court in December, which infuriated New Delhi and the government quickly slapped him with a detention order under the ‘Maintenance of Public Order’s law.

Rizwan Abbasi, attorney of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi talks on phone in his office in Islamabad, Pakistan. Pakistan freed Lakhvi, the suspected mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Friday after a court ordered him released pending trial, a move that is likely to further strain relations with regional rival India, which has long charged Islamabad with turning a blind eye to Islamic militants. Abbasi called it a “triumph for law and justice.”

The Islamabad HC suspended that order, but the Supreme Court restored it in January.

Last month, the HC again set aside the detention order, saying government lawyers had failed to provide evidence to justify Lakhvi’s detention.

Read: No country should provide shelter to terrorists, says Modi after Lakhvi’s release

Lakhvi was arrested in Pakistan in 2009 in connection with the attack on Mumbai by militants in which 166 people were killed. The sole surviving gunman had identified him as the mastermind.

Lakhvi is among the seven persons charged with planning and helping carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The six other men facing trial in Adiala Jail for their alleged involvement in Mumbai attacks are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.

At the time of the attacks, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned Laskhar-e-Tayyaba that has been accused by India of carrying out the attacks in India’s financial capital. Lakhvi along with Zarar Shah was allegedly the key planner of the attack.

Rajnath flays Lakhvi release

Voicing concern over the release of top Lashkar leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that India wants talks with Pakistan but the release of the Mumbai attack mastermind is  “unfortunate and disappointing”.  “India wants talks with Pakistan but the present development on the release of Lakhvi is unfortunate and disappointing,” Mr Singh told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. Asked about alliance partnership between PDP-BJP in J&K, he said, “an agreement has been reached”.          

  

Pakistani police officers escort Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, center, the main suspect of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, after his court appearance in Islamabad, Pakistan. A Pakistani lawyer says authorities have released Lakhvi from prison near Islamabad on Friday

India delayed trial: Pakistan

Pakistan on Friday blamed India for “inordinate delay” in extending cooperation in the 2008 Mumbai attack trial, saying it complicated the case of Zaki-ur- Rehman Lakhvi.

“As I had mentioned earlier, inordinate delay in extending cooperation by India complicated the case and weakened the prosecution. We respect the judicial process and are confident that it would serve the interest of justice,” foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said. Lakhvi, who guided 10 LeT gunmen from Pakistan during 26/11, walked free on Friday.

People stand outside the Taj Mahal hotel, which was one of the sites of the Mumbai terror attack, in Mumbai, India, Friday, April 10, 2015. A Pakistani court on Thursday, April 9, 2015, ordered the release of the main suspect Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in the 2008 Mumbai attacks for the second time in less than a month, a defence lawyer said.

France: It’s a  global threat

Terming the release of Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi by Pakistan as “unfortunate”, France on Friday said the development was not good for either India or the world. The issue came up when PM Narendra Modi met a delegation of French lawmakers, led by National Assembly President Claude Bartolone. “One of the members of the French delegation said the unfortunate release of Lakhvi in Pakistan was not good news for either India or the world,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.