Why 26/11 Commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi Could Leave Jail Today

Mangalore Today News Network

Islamabad, Dec 29, 2014:  In a development that will draw a strong reaction from India, a Pakistan court has made a move that could allow 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi to leave jail. The Islamabad High Court has suspended detention orders used by the Pakistan government to keep Lakhvi in jail after he was granted bail earlier this month. 

On December 18, a court granted bail to Lakhvi, who has since 2009 been in a jail in Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad. The court said that it did not have evidence to prove Lakhvi’s involvement in the worst-ever terror attack in India, in which 166 people were killed in Mumbai in 2008.

India protested angrily with Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemning the prospect of Lakhvi walking free. Pakistan responded by appealing against Lakhvi’s bail and used a special provision called the Maintenance of Public Order to keep him in jail for three months. Lakhvi’s lawyer won his plea against that today. 

The court ruling that granted Lakhvi bail came as Pakistan was struggling to come to terms its biggest ever militant attack, the killing of nearly 130 school children in the city of Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban said it was revenge for a military offensive against them.  Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif then vowed there would no longer be any distinction between "good" and "bad" Taliban, an attempt to draw a line under years of Pakistani support for militants it saw as useful in opposing Indian influence.

Lakhvi is one of seven people on trial in Pakistan for the assault, but the trial has produced no results so far. It has been closed to the media.  India has repeatedly warned Pakistan that the glacial pace of the trial is unacceptable and undermines Pakistan’s stated position on checking terrorism.

Indian investigators have submitted voice samples and other evidence that reveal Lakhvi talking on satellite phones to the 10 terrorists who sailed into Mumbai and attacked its most famous landmarks.  

 

Courtesy: NDTV