26/11 mastermind Lakhvi won't be released yet, Pakistan tells angry India

Pakistan government on Friday said that 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was to remain in jail.

After a Pakistan court granted bail to Lakhvi, the Pakistan government said that it would challenge that order in the Lahore High Court, according to Zee News . Moreover, Lakhvi would remain under detention under the Maintenance of Public Order law, added the report.

On the other hand, Former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, G Parthasarathy told IANS on Thursday that he was “not surprised in least” at the Lashkar-e-Taiba top operative getting bail.

“The LeT enjoys not only patronage of the Pakistani army but also Prime Minister (Nawaz) Sharif, who has had a long-time relationship with (LeT chief and 26/11 mastermind) Hafiz Saeed extending for years.

“He (Saeed) received patronage I know when I was high commissioner from then prime minister Sharif, and even now in his third term, his brother Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab, is funding the Lashkar.

“You can draw your conclusions from this,” he said.

India had earlier on Friday conveyed to Pakistan its “strong concern” on grant of bail to Lakhvi, saying the release will make a mockery of Pakistan’s commitment to fight terror groups without hesitation and without making distinctions.

“Despite repeated assurances that have been received, we have seen both the prosecution of the seven accused in the Anti-Terror Court in Islamabad, as also the investigation by the authorities into the larger conspiracy surrounding the Mumbai attack case, proceeding at a glacial pace.

“The story of repeated postponements, adjournments and unavailability of concerned law officers or witnesses is well documented and does not require repetition. The move to grant bail to Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi yesterday has taken this saga to another level,” official spokesman in the External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin said.

“We have, therefore, forthwith communicated to Pakistan through diplomatic channels our strong concerns on this matter and the sentiments across the spectrum of Indian society that that this will make a mockery of Pakistan’s commitment to fight terror groups without hesitation and without making distinctions,” the spokesman said.

“We cannot accept that LeT’s chief operation commander Zakiur Lakhvi, one of the key conspirators of the Mumbai terror attacks in which so many innocent people were slaughtered, a person designated as an international terrorist by the UNSC, is being released on bail,” Akbaruddin had also said on Thursday.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also said at a press conference, “It is very unfortunate, and we believe it should not have happened” and added that the evidence provided by India to Pakistan was “more than enough to nail him”. He said the Pakistan government should appeal in a higher court and get the bail cancelled.

Lakhvi is among the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the brazen terror attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 that left 166 dead, including foreigners. He is also the co-founder of LeT.

A day after Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif said his government was committed to fighting terrorism, 26/11 accused Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was granted bail by a Pakistan anti-terror court on Thursday.

(With agency inputs)