Pakistan fails to challenge 26/11 mastermind Lakhvi's bail plea, says it hasn't got the court order copy yet
"We are facing problems in getting the ATC's order copy. I cannot say whether we will be able to file the appeal tomorrow as it is subject to getting the court's order. After going through the court's order we need time to prepare the petition," Prosecution Chief Chaudhry Azhar said.
Delaying the trial of 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi even further, the Pakistan government on Monday failed to file a petition challenging the bail order issued for the Lashkar-e-Taiba leader. The prosecution said that it could not challenge the decision given by Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court to grant bail to Lakhvi because it failed to get a copy of the court's order.
"We are facing problems in getting the ATC's order copy. I cannot say whether we will be able to file the appeal tomorrow as it is subject to getting the court's order. After going through the court's order we need time to prepare the petition," Prosecution Chief Chaudhry Azhar said in a statement to PTI.
Lakhvi, 54, had been granted bail on December 18 by ATC Islamabad Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi due to lack of evidence. However, he was detained for three months on the Pakistan government's orders after huge criticism by India and within Pakistan. The decision came days after Taliban gunmen massacred 148 people in Peshawar and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif annonced a "national plan" to tackle terrorism in the nation.
Lakhvi's lawyer, on the other hand, filed a petition in the High Court in Islamabad challenging a trial court's decision to make the Pakistan Judicial Commission's record a part of evidence in the Mumbai terror attack case.
"We have challenged the trial court's decision in the Islamabad High Court to make the Pakistan Judicial Commission's record a part of evidence in the case," Lakhvi's counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi told PTI.
The Islamabad High Court has constituted a two-member bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Noorullah to hear Lakhvi's petition.
"The court office will fix the date of the hearing of the case," Abbasi said.
The Pakistani Judicial Commission had visited India twice for the cross examination of witnesses there. The prosecution had prepared the commission's report which Lakhvi objected, saying "it cannot be made a part of the evidence in the case."
Lakhvi and six other accused, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum, face the allegations of planning and executing the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008 that left 166 people dead. The trial has been underway since 2009.