ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI: The Islamabad high court on Friday ordered the release of 2008 Mumbai attack accused and Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi by declaring his third-time detention orders void, drawing a strong protest from the Indian government.
The foreign ministry summoned Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit to convey India’s outrage , saying this went against Islamabad’s professed commitment to combat terrorism, including its recently stated policy of not differentiating among terrorists.
“If such a person who is also designated international terrorist by the United Nations is released, it will pose a threat that cannot be ignored,” said MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
Earlier in the day, accepting Lakhvi’s plea against his detention under maintenance of Public Order Act, Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi pronounced the notification “null and void”, adding that the court hadn’t been presented with enough evidence to keep him in jail. “Lakhvi is a Pakistani citizen and he cannot be detained under external pressure. The detention of the petitioner is not only illegal but also violates the fundamental rights of a common Pakistani citizen,” the order said.
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India’s home ministry said “overwhelming” evidence against Lakhvi wasn’t given to the court by the Pakistani agencies. Minister of state for home Kiran Rijiju said, “The overwhelming evidence against Lakhvi has not been presented properly before court by Pakistani agencies. There are no good terrorists or bad terrorists.”
An MHA spokesperson said, “It’s the responsibility of the Pakistani government to take all legal measures to ensure that Lakhvi doesn’t come out of jail.”
High commissioner Basit later told reporters, “He (Lakhvi) may have been granted bail but as you know the trial continues. We are all working to complete the trial. Let the judicial process take its course.”
Lakhvi’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi said the jail authorities were bound to release his client. “The court orders will be submitted before the jail superintendent soon,” he said.
A trial court hearing the Mumbai attacks case had granted Lakhvi bail on December 18 last year. However, international pressure forced Pakistan’s government to re-arrest him in a six-year-old kidnapping case involving an Afghan national.
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Sources in Pakistan’s interior ministry said the federal government might detain Lakhvi under another public security order as the court had already restrained it from registering any other case against Lakhvi without its permission. Attorney general Mian Abdul Rauf said the main reason for Lakhvi’s detention was to prevent him from attending any public meeting and potentially regrouping.
Lakhvi was arrested in December 2008 from LeT’s headquarters in Muzaffarabad and a case lodged against him and six co-accused by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in February 2009. The others are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.
TOI | Mar 14, 2015
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