File photo: Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi
India on Monday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to register its protest against a court order that could allow 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi to leave jail.
Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh "conveyed strong concern at the lack of effective action by Pakistan's prosecuting authorities," the ministry said in a statement.
A furious India told the Pakistan envoy that it was "extremely disturbing that despite the assurances we have been receiving over the last six years, and the recent tragedies in Pakistan, there seems to be no end in sight to Pakistan remaining a safe-haven for well-known terror groups."
India reacted after the Islamabad High Court today cancelled government orders to keep Lakhvi in prison for another three months after he was granted bail on December 18.
Lakhvi submitted a Rs 1 million surety bond today on Monday night, and is likely to be released any time, his counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi told news agency Press Trust of India.
Some reports suggest that Pakistan may detain Lakhvi in another case, mindful of condemnation from India and other countries.
Pakistani officials are quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying that the Lashkar-e-Taiba commander's release would "draw flak from the world, especially India."
Pakistan had assured India that it would appeal against Lakhvi's bail in the Supreme Court, but that has yet to happen.
Lakhvi has since 2009 been in a jail in Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad. The court that granted him bail 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.
Lakhvi is one of seven people on trial in Pakistan for the siege of Mumbai, 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.