Islamabad/New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that claimed 166 lives, was released from a jail in Pakistan early on Friday triggering strong reactions from India which called it a “negative development”.
Pakistan blamed the development on “inordinate delay in extending cooperation by India”.
Lakhvi was released after the Lahore High Court suspended his detention on Thursday. The Congress and BJP accused Pakistan of not being serious in fighting terrorism.
The terrorist leader was released overnight from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail without any announcement by the jail authorities or the Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD), the organisation that Lakhvi was affiliated with, Geo TV reported.
India meanwhile registered its strong concerns with Pakistan on the release and said that it was a “most negative development” for bilateral ties.
In Paris, French President Francois Hollande told visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the release of Lakhvi on bail is “deeply shocking”.
The Lahore High Court on Thursday quashed Lakhvi’s detention for the fourth time, ordering him to be immediately released. Lakhvi had moved the Lahore High Court, challenging his detention and claiming it to be unlawful.
His lawyers maintained in a petition that Lakhvi was being kept in custody despite higher courts ending his detention. The Lahore High Court also accepted Lakhvi’s bail application, ordering his release on the submission of two bail bonds worth Pakistani Rs.1 million ($9,820) each.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said on Friday that it would be improper to doubt its commitment to countering terrorism after India vehemently protested Lakhvi’s release.
“The case of Mumbai attack suspects is sub-judice. It would not be proper to cast aspersions on Pakistan’s commitment to countering terrorism at a time when Pakistan has entered a critical stage of defeating the menace of terrorism,” Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Tasneem Alam said.
She added that the “inordinate delay in extending cooperation by India complicated the case and weakened the prosecution”.
Last month, the Islamabad High Court had declared Lakhvi’s detention illegal and ordered his release.
India, reacting sharply, underlined that the move “has reinforced the perception that Pakistan has a dual policy on dealing with terrorists and those who have carried out attacks or are posing a threat to India are being dealt with differently”.
It also emphasized that “this is a most negative development in so far as bilateral ties are concerned”.
The issue of Lakhvi’s release also featured in talks between Prime Minister Modi and senior politicians in France as well as in his talks with President Hollande.
Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Akbaruddin shared Hollande’s tweet: “Release on bail of terrorist accused of heinous crime of Mumbai terrorist attack is deeply shocking – Prez @fhollande.”
India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed Lakhvi’s release as “unfortunate” and “disappointing”.
“India wants talks with Pakistan but the present development is unfortunate and disappointing,” he said.
Hours before Lakhvi walked free on Friday, a leading Pakistani newspaper pulled up Islamabad for its failure to convict the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack. The Nation said in an editorial that the Lakhvi saga had come a full circle.
“The government has once more miserably failed at prosecuting Lakhvi,” it said. “Not only has it failed, it seems like it didn’t even try hard this time around.
“Lakhvi’s conviction could have been the watershed moment this country needed in the struggle against extremism….”
Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said India’s position on the issue of terrorism was very clear.
“None other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the dictum ‘zero tolerance towards terrorism’,” he said.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused Pakistan of not being serious in fighting terrorism.
“Doesn’t look like Pakistan is serious about combating terrorism,” he said.
The Congress party questioned the intention of the Pakistan government.
“This raises questions on the intent of Pakistan government. Pakistan had been provided with enough evidence which would have led to conviction of Lakhvi,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said.
Party leader R.P.N. Singh said the BJP-led government should lodge a strong protest with Pakistan.
Lakhvi is among the seven people charged with planning and helping carry out the November 26, 2008, Mumbai attack that left 166 people dead. The six other men facing trial for their alleged involvement are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.
At the time of the Mumbai atttack, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT), accused by India of carrying out the attacks in the country’s financial capital.
Lakhvi and six others were indicted for the Mumbai attacks in Pakistan on the basis of evidence provided by the Indian government.
The evidence included a confession by Ajmal Kasab — the lone terrorist captured alive and later hanged to death following a trial — and satellite phone data recovered from a boat that the attackers had hijacked enroute from the Pakistani coastal city of Karachi to Mumbai.