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Lakhvi challenges detention order despite bail

A judge in an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad had granted bail to Lakhvi on December 18 on two surety bonds of rupees half a million each

Islamabad: Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the attacks in Mumbai in 2008, on Saturday challenged his detention under a public security order in the Islamabad High Court.

A judge in an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad had granted bail to Lakhvi on December 18 on two surety bonds of rupees half a million each.

The federal government, however, rejected his plea for release and prevented it by clamping the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) before he could be released. The detention order was served on Lakhvi in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail before his lawyers could furnish the two bail bonds as directed by ATC judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi.

Lakhvi, the commander of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who was allegedly involved in planning, financing and executing the attacks on Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, was granted bail for “deficient evidence” by judge Zaidi against submission of surety bonds on Tuesday after about five years of secret trial in Adiala jail Rawalpindi.
The embarrassing release order had come only a day after the ghastly Peshawar school tragedy that evoked worldwide condemnation and empathy including prompt call from Indian premier Narendra Modi.

Modi also asked schoolchildren across the country to observe two-minute silence as an expression of solidarity with the people of Pakistan.

The bail order evoked strong reaction from the government of India, Indian media and also the Lok Sabha members.
Pakistan authorities have detained Lakhvi under section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) in Adiala jail for 30 days. Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi of the Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court has issued notice to the federation and directed it to file a reply to Lakhvi’s plea by December 29.

Lakhvi, through his counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi, had challenged his detention orders, contending that they are ‘illegal’.
His lawyer argued that the ATC had granted his client bail, but the government had flouted the ATC’s orders by not releasing his client.

He requested the court to annul the detention orders.
However, Justice Qureshi observed that the court cannot decide the matter without hearing federal government’s version.
The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration had issued orders for Lakhvi’s detention. According to an ICT official, the basic objective of the detention was to prevent Lakhvi from attending any public meeting and potential regrouping.

Sources in the ICT administration said authorities had also requested the Punjab home department to issue orders for Lakhvi’s detention to prevent him from moving to his hometown, Okara.

Lakhvi is currently detained at the Adiala jail along with six other suspects allegedly involved in the Mumbai attacks.
Legal experts say loopholes in the Mumbai attacks case led to the grant of bail to Lakhvi. The order said that weak evidence, the registration of the FIR invoking irrelevant sections against the suspect, the ‘never-ending’ trial and hearsay evidence went in favour of the accused.

Lakhvi was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in February 2009 on the basis of a confessional statement of the lone surviving attacker Ajmal Kasab and detained at the Adiala Jail.

According to the charge-sheet issued on November 25, 2009, Lakhvi was the alleged commander of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as well as the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. It alleged that Lakhvi received weapon training from different centres and then trained other LeT militants.

He was also facing the charge of imparting training and giving instructions to 10 terrorists who carried out the attacks between November 26 and 28, 2008, in Mumbai leaving 166 people dead.