LHC gives Punjab home secretary five days to decide Lakhvi's detention

Single bench of LHC issued this order on the member of Jamatud Dawa’s member petition challenging his detention

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday gave the Punjab home secretary five days to make a decision regarding the detention of the alleged mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

A single bench of the LHC issued the order on the Jamatud Dawa member's petition challenging his detention. Lakhvi had filed this petition after the LHC directed him to avail remedy before the home secretary.

In his petition, Lakhvi stated he approached the home secretary but he is not deciding his representation.

Read: Plea for freedom: Court dismisses Lakhvi’s petition

Further, Lakhvi through his counsel pleaded that the detention order issued by the DCO was contempt of the verdict issued by the Islamabad High Court.

The IHC had set aside for the third time Lakhvi’s detention and ordered the authorities to release him immediately.

However, before his release, DCO Okara on March 14 issued a fresh detention order against Lakhvi. Previously, he was also granted bail in the case.

Read: Lakhvi’s detention: Court issues contempt notices to interior secretary, Okara DCO

Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi directed Interior Secretary Shahid Khan and Okara DCO Kaiser Saleem to file replies within 10 days over their failure to comply with court orders and to appear before the bench in the next hearing.

The order came in response to a fresh contempt application filed by Lakhvi’s counsel, Raja Rizwan Abbasi, challenging the fresh orders of the Punjab government.

The court quashed a previous detention order on March 13, 2015, but hours later, the DCO issued a 30-day detention order under maintenance of public order (MPO), which the court observed was against its judgment.

Lakhvi, a central leader of Jamatud Dawa, is accused of being mastermind of the Mumbai attacks that killed at least 166 people.