Pak court grants bail to 26/11 accused Lakhvi

Islamabad, December 18

LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the 26/11/2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was granted bail today by Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court.

Lakhvi and six others had filed bail applications yesterday even as lawyers were observing strike to condemn the terrorist attack on an army-run school in Peshawar that left 148 people, mostly children, dead.

The FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) prosecutor disagreed with the bail request, however advocate Rizwan Abbasi, the lawyer representing Lakhvi stood before the court as the bail was approved, the Dawn reported.

The seven accused — Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum — are facing trial at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Lakhvi, who was the operational head of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba, was one of the key planners of the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.

His release from jail comes a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to announce a “national plan” to tackle terrorism within a week, saying “this entire region” should be cleaned of terrorism.

Rajnath Singh blames Pakistan

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today blamed Pakistan for the bail granted to Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, saying there might be some shortcomings on the part of the prosecution in taking forward the case.

Terming the bail to Lakhvi as “very unfortunate”, as it came just two days after the terror attack in Peshawar where over 130 schoolchildren were killed, he hoped that the Pakistan government will approach a higher court against the lower court order and ensure its cancellation.

“There might be some shortcomings on the part of the Pakistan government somewhere or could be due to some other reasons (the bail was granted),” he said at a hurriedly-called press briefing, hours after a Pakistani court gave bail to LeT operations commander Lakhvi, currently lodged at a jail.

According to Lakhvi’s counsel advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi, bail was granted as “evidence against Lakhvi was deficient”.

Singh said India had pursued the Mumbai attacks case meticulously and that resulted in fast trial and delivery of justice to the case with the hanging of one of the terrorists Ajmal Kasab.

“But it is not happening in Pakistan. We have given enough evidence against the terrorists,” he said.

Meanwhile, India has told Pakistan that the release of Lakhvi, one of the key conspirators of the Mumbai terror attacks, on bail was unacceptable to it and demanded immediate steps for reversal of the decision.

In a sharp reaction to the bail granted to 54-year-old UN-designated terrorist by a Rawalpindi court, New Delhi told Islamabad that there could be no selective approach to terrorism, emphasising that it should realise that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists.

"We cannot accept that LeT's chief operation commander Zakiur Lakhvi, one of the key conspirators of the Mumbai terror attacks in which so many innocent people were slaughtered, a person designated as an international terrorist by the UNSC, is being released on bail," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said. — PTI