Mumbai:
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused by India of plotting the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai along with Hafiz Saeed, was granted bail today despite evidence that New Delhi believes is strong enough to convict him.
A court in Islamabad said there was not enough evidence against Lakhvi, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander who was among the seven Pakistanis accused of planning and abetting the Mumbai attacks.
A lawyer of Pakistan's Federal Investigating Agency or FIA told NDTV that he had vehemently opposed Lakhvi's bail. "There is enough evidence against Lakhvi. We are shocked at how he got bail," said FIA special public prosecutor Azhar Chaudhry.
Lakhvi was formally charged by the anti-terror court in 2009.
The FIA's chargesheet said, "Lakhvi and others organized training camps for the 26/11 terrorists and supplied them with weapons and explosives."
A chunk of the information on Lakhvi came from Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive in the 60-hour siege that left 166 dead in India's financial capital.
Kasab, who was executed in 2012, had reportedly confessed to Indian investigators that he was recruited by a "Zaki Chacha" who turned out to be Lakhvi.
Lakhvi allegedly mentored the Mumbai attackers and told them that they were striking at a city that is India's economic strength.
Kasab reportedly revealed that Hafiz Sayeed and Lakhvi divided 10 terrorists into five pairs and gave them targets in Mumbai. Lakhvi, he confessed, was present also when the attackers left for Mumbai from Karachi
Lakhvi, along with other handlers, allegedly watched the attack on TV at a "control room" in Karachi and was constantly giving instructions to the 10 gunmen who spread terror on the streets of Mumbai.
Another piece of evidence fell into place with Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley telling US authorities about his meeting with the Lashkar terrorist. "Lakhvi told me one Major Iqbal would call with regard to an operation in India," Headley reportedly said in the US, in an apparent reference to the Mumbai attacks.
51-year-old Lakhvi is reportedly known to young recruits as "chachu" or uncle and also goes by aliases like "chhota chachaji".
Kasab reportedly said in his questioning that Lakhvi urged them to wage war against India and was present when the terror recruits were trained in assembling and operating Kalashnikovs, grenades and rocket launchers.
Today's court ruling on Lakhvi came as Pakistan was struggling to come to terms its biggest ever militant attack, the killing on Tuesday of 132 school children and nine members of staff in the city of Peshawar.