Lashkar-e-Taiba leader and 26/11 accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi being produced in court
26/11 accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi has been detained for the second time in Pakistan, a day after a court cancelled government orders to keep him in prison even after he was granted bail on December 18.
A new case was registered against Lakhvi hours after the Islamabad High Court suspended his detention and ordered his conditional release yesterday. The terror mastermind has been booked for allegedly kidnapping a man named Anwar.
A furious India had on Monday summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to register its protest against the court order that would allow Lakhvi to walk free.
Lakhvi last night submitted a Rs 1 million surety bond and was to be freed but was rearrested before that.
A Pakistani official had been quoted yesterday saying 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. 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.