This is the fourth time since December 2014 that Lakhvi has had a brush with freedom without actually being released - the previous ones being on December 18, 2014, then Dec 29, 2014, and March 13 this year. On Thursday, New Delhi once again reacted angrily, saying such developments constitute a real threat to not just India but the world.
"Our concerns on this issue have been made known to the Government of Pakistan in the past. These shall be reiterated. The fact is that known terrorists not being effectively prosecuted constitutes a real security threat for India and the world," said foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin. "This also erodes the value of assurances repeatedly conveyed to us with regard to cross border terrorism?," he added.
Since last December, when Islamabad's anti-terrorism court ordered Lakhvi's release on bail in the Mumbai attacks case, the government has been keeping Lakhvi, 55, behind bars under one pretext or the other in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail.
Accepting Lakhvi's plea against his fourth detention order, justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq struck down the Punjab government's order issued for his detention on March 14 following his release by the Islamabad HC a day earlier.
The Punjab government said Lakhvi was detained on basis of sensitive information provided by intelligence agencies. The court had directed the provincial government on Tuesday to produce the secret reports, if any, against Lakhvi. The records submitted by the government, according to Lakhvi's counsel, was the same presented earlier in the Islamabad High Court.
The court upheld the stance that if this sensitive information was reliable, the Islamabad HC would not have accepted Lakhvi's bail. Justice Anwarul Haq said evidence provided by the government could not satisfy the court. While issuing his release orders, the judge directed the accused to submit surety bonds worth Rs 20 lakh.
Lakhvi was arrested in December 2008 from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)'s headquarters in Muzaffarabad and the case against him and six co-accused was registered in February 2009. The six others accused in the case are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.
At the time of the attacks, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned LeT. Lakhvi along with Zarar Shah was allegedly the key planner and executioner of the attack that killed 166 people in Mumbai.
A trial court hearing the Mumbai attacks case had granted him bail on December 18 last year, triggering an angry reaction from India over the court decision.
The pressure forced Pakistan's government to detain him under the Maintenance of Public Order, a law that the government has often used to detain people suspected of posing a threat or causing unrest, for a specified period after overriding standard legal procedures and due process of law.
The decision, however, was suspended by the IHC on 29 December, thus, prompting the government to arrest him again in a six-year-old kidnapping case of an Afghan national named Anwar Khan.
A day before Lakhvi was granted bail in the kidnapping case on January 8 this year, the Supreme Court had restored Lakhvi's detention under MPO and directed the IHC to decide the matter after hearing the federal government. On March 13, however, the IHC issued his release orders, prompting Pakistan's government to reorder Lakhvi's arrest for a month next day.
http://ift.tt/1AtdHbk Rehman Lakhvi,Lakhvi’s release order
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