Bowing to pressure from India and US, Pakistan has decided to extend custody for Lashkar terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Bowing to pressure from India and US, Pakistan has decided to extend custody for Lashkar terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
He will be behind bars for another 30 days. Lakhvi is believed to be close aide and relative of Hafeez Sayeed, who is the mastermind of 26/11 attack. Lakhvi's detention has been extended by the Punjab provincial government to maintain public order. Lakhvi's lawyer has reacted to the extension order by saying it was done owing to pressure from India.
India on Friday said it was "extremely upset" over the verdict of a court in Islamabad ordering release of Lashkar terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and has lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan government. The matter has been "raised at high levels" in Pakistan, official sources said.
"India is extremely upset with the verdict and as a first step lodged a strong protest with the Pakistan government," the sources said.
India's reaction came within hours of the Islamabad High Court declaring as void the detention order of the LeT operations commander Lakhvi, who was also the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind. Lakhvi and six others - Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum - have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attacks in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead.
The US too on Friday asked Pakistan to follow through its commitment to bring the perpetrators of 2008 Mumbai attack to justice.
"The government of Pakistan has pledged its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators -- financiers, and sponsors of the Mumbai terrorist attacks to justice and we urge Pakistan to follow through on that commitment," the State Department Spokesperson, Jen Psaki, told reporters at her daily news conference. "We are monitoring reports that an Islamabad high court judge suspended detention orders for the alleged Mumbai attack mastermind," she said.
With PTI inputs
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