Islamabad: Despite strong opposition from India, 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind and operations of Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was released from prison on bail on Friday.
Lakhvi was released from Adiala jail in Rawalpindi after he had filed two bail bonds worth 1 crore each for their release. Representatives Hafiz Saeed run terrorist group Jamaat-ud-Dawah were present outside the prison for Lakhvi.
“Lakhvi has been released and is out of jail now,” said his lawyer, Malik Nasir Abbas, told a news agency. “I do not know where to go now.” Pakistan media reports suggest that it has moved to locations not specified.
“His detention was considered illegal by the Islamabad High Court ordered his release,” he added.
Yesterday, the court had suspended the arrest warrant against Punjab government Lakhvi under a law of public safety and ordered his immediate release.
Justice Anwarul Haq Muhammad Lahore HC suspended the arrest of the 55-year-old Lakhvi low maintenance of public order after the government failed to sensitive records filed against him in court.
“The law enforcement officer had presented important information about Lakhvi, but the court did not accept this and declared satisfactory evidence,” said an official at the LHC.
The council Lakhvi Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued that after anterior direction LHC had submitted a representation to the Minister of Interior of Punjab against his “illegal” arrest but the interior minister dismissed and upheld the arrest warrant issued 30 days by the District Coordination Officer, Okara.
Reacting to the judgment on Lakhvi, India said it “eroded” the value of collateral repeatedly transmitted to it by Pakistan border terrorism.
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said “our concerns on this issue have been disclosed to the Government of Pakistan in the past. These were reiterated.
India had reacted strongly to the decision before the IHC on March 13, saying the overwhelming evidence against Lakhvi not been properly presented to the courts by Pakistani agencies.
Lakhvi and six others – Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum – have been accused of planning and executing the attack on Mumbai in November 2008, which left 166 people dead.
Lakhvi, believed to be a close relative of the founder of LeT and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, was arrested in December 2008 and was charged along with the other six on November 25, 2009 in connection with the attack 26/11 case.
The trial has been underway since 2009.
The man accused of masterminding the 2008 devastating terrorist attack on the Indian city of Mumbai has walked free from a Pakistani jail on Friday after the arrest warrants against him were dropped.
The decision of the High Court of Lahore to release Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged military chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group, was described as an “insult to the victims” of the terrorist attack that killed 166 people .
Delhi is still frustrated by the failure of Pakistan for seven years successfully prosecute everyone involved in sending a shipment of young suicide bombers to the financial capital of India.
