Lashkar commander and key handler of the 2611 Mumbai attackers, Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, was on Friday sent to Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail for up to three months, upturning a bail granted on Thursday by an anti-terror court. Lakhvi was booked afresh under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) in a move that appeared aimed at quelling domestic criticism and strong global condemnation that saw the bail verdict as dilution of Pakistan's resolve to wage war on terror.
Lakhvi, 54, had been granted bail due to lack of evidence by an Islamabad anti-terrorism court on a surety bond of Rs.5 lakh. The Pakistan government has decided to challenge the verdict of the trial court in the Islamabad high court on Monday . Prosecution chief in the 2611 trial in Pakistan, Chaudhry Azhar, said the Nawaz Sharif government would challenge the bail granted to terror mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi in the Islamabad high court on Monday. Following outrage across the world over his bail, Lakhvi has now been booked under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) following a direction from the interior ministry .
Shocked by Lakhvi's release, home minister Rajnath Singh had urged the Sharif government to get it cancelled.“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,“ said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman of India's external affairs ministry . The bail verdict could not have come at a worse time, just two days after the bloody massacre in an Army school in Peshawar, where militants killed at least 132 children and nine adults.
The decision was also widely condemned in Pakistan social media. Due to fear factor, moderate and progressive Pakistanis often remain silent over activities of non-state actors, but the brutal killing of schoolchildren in Peshawar has given them the courage to speak. The reaction against Lakhvi's bail and the protest in front of Islamabad's Lal Masjid indicate that the public perception about activities of non-state actors and their apologists has significantly changed in the country. 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.
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