ISLAMABAD: An anti terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday granted bail to the alleged mastermind of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, lawyers told AFP, a move likely to further inflame tensions with India.
The Mumbai 60-hour siege on India's economic capital left 166 people dead and was blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Relations between the two countries worsened dramatically after the carnage, in which 10 gunmen attacked luxury hotels, a popular cafe, a train station and a Jewish centre.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused of masterminding the violence, was granted bail by a judge in Islamabad.
"We had moved a bail application with the Islamabad anti-terror court on December 10, today the judge granted bail to my client after hearing arguments from both sides," Lakhvi's lawyer Rizwan Abbasi told AFP.
Prosecutor Mohammad Chaudhry Azhar confirmed the court had granted bail.
The court's decision comes a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to crack down on terror groups in the country, after Taliban gunmen massacred 148 people at the Army Public School in Peshawar.
The premier on Wednesday announced that a six-year moratorium on the death penalty would be lifted for those convicted of terror offences.
The horror of the Mumbai carnage played out on live television around the world, as commandos battled the heavily-armed gunmen, who arrived by sea on the evening of November 26.
It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city and New Delhi has long said there is evidence that "official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack.
Islamabad denies the charge but LeT's charitable arm Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) operates openly in the country.
Seven Pakistani suspects have been charged with planning and financing the Mumbai attacks but the failure to advance their trials has been a major obstacle to normalising ties with India.
Delhi has accused Islamabad of prevaricating over the trials, while Pakistan has claimed India failed to hand over crucial evidence.
The sole surviving gunman from Mumbai, Pakistani-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was hanged in India in 2012.
COMMENTS (48)
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@nomi: What has Modi to do with terror attacks? Facts are well hidden by Muslim. Do you forget that Muslims attacked the train carrying Hindus from pilgrim and set the train on fire killing women and children? The Hindus then retaliated and now you are crying.
Further the SC also found that Modi had requested help from neighbouring states for special police forces but they refused. They were Congress states.
So stop misleading and if this newspaper does not publish this, it just goes to prove that you all have a hidden agenda.
Why all the hue and cry, the same people were defending Mr. Modi's acquittal from chargers now criticize this decision.
Forced to believe that terrorists are infiltrated into our judiciary as well......Cant imagine the future of our country.....A lot need to be changed.....
@fox: Give a list of those people are harbouring. All you want to do is talk and mislead.
It's court decision not of Government of Pakistan. Why are you blaming Pakistan about it? It's up to court who it considers culprit and who it considers innocent. He has been granted bail only, he hasn't been exculpated from the charges.
Pathetic, shambolic and disgusting decision ...
@john there are many snakes both sides of the border, you cannot seriously expect pakistan to hand over ppl whilst india who has many refuses to do so..your thinking is flawed educate yourself there are many factors and variables involved it has many complexities....
Verry bad-the judges appear chickened out. All those who attacked and killed innocent people should be brought to justice.
strong text It is certainly a very poor decision releasing an LET leader a day after the carnage in Peshawar. what is the matter with our courts, are the judges at anti terrorist courts in Pakistan are proper judges or they are terrorists themselves. I think we have to review and reassess all the Judges in anti terrorist courts, high courts and Supreme Court.
Zulfikar ali Bhutto was sent to the gallows by ensuring the correct no of justices, to ensure 5-4 verdict. We know the father of Malik Abdul Qayum sided with goverment to ensure bright future for son. If the familiar statement by all Pakistanis on television is " let us examine the evidence" it is not there to establish an guilt. Indian audience gut feeling is nothing will be allowed to come out which will expose the army establishment. Similarly a journalist disappeared when he was about to expose army skeletons regarding Osama Bin Laden. Immediately after Kasab was hanged after being proven guilty in 2008 killings, Sarabjit singh was found with skull smashed in jail. Indian doctors on examining the body in Amritsar suggested that it was premeditated to ensure grievous injury and death at any cost. The overall judicial system appears in Pakistan is dysfunctional, goverment is not in control, The army is ultimate judge in all matters.
@John: Why a suspect should not get bail if evidence is weak or insufficient? Every person is considered innocent until proven otherwise.
Narendra Modi was cleared of Gujarat massacre due to insufficient evidence. Similarly, Lakhvi is granted bail due to insufficient proofs. Courts judge the suspects based on evidences not sentiments or propaganda.
The ATC judge himself is a terrorist and should be publicly hanged.
Definitely outrageous ! Deficient evidence or evidence going missing? ATC needs to get its act together.
One day after Nawaz Sharif said there will be no difference between good Taliban and bad Taliban. - ONE day !!!
And this is also one day after the Indian PM calls Nawaz Sharif, the parliament adopts a resolution in condemning the Peshawar attacks, Millions of kids praying in their schools for the little angels who died in Peshawar and the people of India showing their support via #IndiawithPakistan.
This is just the surface of what is going on in the Pakistani Society, when a nation, a mindset, a society cannot change after the brutal execution of more than 130 innocent kids, then it means that something deep is rotten.
My Pakistani friends, This is a sign from Allah, you are not doing his work, you are bringing disrepute to his teachings, you - through your actions and deeds, are the greatest threat to Islam, to your neighbors, to the world and to yourself
May the almighty be kind and allow you to realize your follies before it is too late.
Even the charade is gone now. "In April this year however, proceedings came to a virtual standstill as special judge of the ATC expressed his inability to conduct the trial of the seven suspects due to security reasons. This came following a terrorist attack on the district courts in Islamabad in the month of March." The government did not provide security to the judges. One of the judge was murdered. No judge wants to conduct the trial.
@Zahir:
Dear Zahir,
We understand that this creature called Hafeez Saeed has a demonic brain and therefore doesn't have any values or a normal way of thinking. What happened to you ?
@Chacko Cherian Calicut: wrong! not a single person involved in Samjotha bombing has been convicted. Many are in jail, yes but none has been convicted yet even after almost 7 years have gone by.
This is an activity of snakes which live in our sleeves. Taliban supporters are shedding crocodiles tears in front of media but behind closed doors are laughing and enjoying. This crocodile gave the actual message.
Would you err on the side of caution or would you grant bail in such a high profile case? If so, would you do the same with those who killed 132 children in Peshawar?
The delay in not sentencing is one thing but granting bail? That,s just wrong extremely poor timing at that.
As a Pakistani, I say this is not acceptable. He should not be granted bail and if there is evidence against this man, he should be prosecuted and jailed and hanged.. Simple...
This terrorist has a political master elected from Faisalabad.
@Burki: Agree with you.Samjhotha express perpetators including an ex-Colonel of Indian army is in prison now.Also that case was cracked by India an many of the victims were Indians.Since the accused are Indians they are punished by our courts.Can you say the same about perpetrators of Mumbai attacks and Dawood Ibrahim who is an Indian citizen??
Courts have to abide by the Law. In this case it is up to Pakistan's and India's investigative agencies and administration to gather and to lay out evidence before courts.
Long tough time ahead for Pakistan if they have such type of weak system
Hafiz Saeed has openly challenged all Indians (wherever they are) to bring all the evidences against allegations levied upon him in any neutral court of law, anywhere in the world (other than in India). I don't understand that what Indians are waiting for? Accusing without evidences should be stopped now. Instead of wasting your time here in replying me, please go gather evidences and drag Hafiz Saeed in a neutral court of justice.
This is really sad. How can he go scotfree? While bails are rejected nowadays in ordinary criminal cases, how can the court grant bail to Lakhnavi in such a high profile terrorist case, especially when he created a national crisis for the country and brought infamy to us.
How is the court operating when Pakistan is in official 3 day mourning/ shut down?
Hafeez Saeed, the mastermind of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2008 (that killed 164 and injured over 300) is roaming free in Pakistan even today.
Earlier this month Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawah which is blacklisted by the US as a terror organization and has a US bounty of 10 million dollars on his head, held a two-day congregation in Lahore with the full support of the Pakistan government. Official sources said that that the Jamaat leadership had spoken to Pakistan Railways Minister Saad Rafique for his permission to run special trains to transport people to Lahore for the meet.
So the Pakistani government and army see Saeed and his kind as a heroes as long as they attack non-Pakistanis or within Pakistan, non-Sunnis.
They are fine with the Taliban as long as they attack Aghanis or the Indians or the Americans. And it is this attitude that has come back to bite them. The monster that they fed is now out of control. And who pays the price... their own children. So sad. So frustrating. So expected.
Well what can I say if not for Mumbai alt least for the sake of Peshawar show some intellect and spine.
The proceedings of the last parliamentary parties meeting, its joint statement, the ground realities, and the events like this one, prove that Pakistan is a gone case.
Today is another sad day. A terrorist has been let loose to perpetrate more acts of terror. It is just a matter of time when he will kill with impunity and the innocent will decry his release.
Terrible timing - pretty much destroys the credibility of Sharif statement saying that Pakistan will target all terrorist. Another reason that the World ranks Pakistan below N Korea - shame on you.
Will we never learn our lessons? Freeing this monster at this time is a slap in the face of all who have lost innocent loved ones to terrorism. Did NS not say there will be no difference between "good" and "bad" terrorists? At a time India mourns our 135 innocent children lost to barbarism, a judge allows bail to the mastermind of the Mumbai killings of innocent people. Absolutely shameless, a black mark on the judiciary for sure.
Mullahs regularly assure Jihadis and other such killers a place in an Islamic paradise even for doing such evil deeds. That is why these nutcases welcome death. Most of them long for a bullet between their eyes because they have been promised a place in 'Jannat'. Therefore the way to stop these idiots is to deny them a place in their heaven. India can do this in the following manner.
Do a ritual over the dead body of every Pakistani infiltrator to Ex-communicate them from Islam. Further the Govt of India must with the backing of the religious leadership declare all such killers as outside the pale of Islam. No Islamic funeral to be given for such people. Instead, dispose of the body right away and never hand it back to his relations or the Pakistani government or the Army for it to be given an honorable funeral. The dead terrorist should be given either a Jewish, Zoroastrian, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu funeral. A priest must be summoned to deal with the body as per full Jewish, Zoroastrian, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu rites. Same thing must be the fate for terrorists of all other religions. The body can then be buried, fed to the vultures or cremated. That will deny the terrorist the mental comfort of a place in Islamic heaven. This will deter even the most committed Jihadi. They are all convinced that they are doing it for Allah and if they know that their body will lie along with the 'Kufr' after they die, this will deter them for sure. Even the bodies of all already dead and buried killers must be exhumed and dealt with in this manner all over again.There is no point in sending in the drones in retaliation. They will just continue to kill with a smile.
So much for going after the "good Taliban" and "bad Taliban". From a Indian standpoint it does not really matter anymore whether Lakhvi goes free or Hafiz Saeed makes speeches. We will completely seal our borders and protect our citizens. It is Pakistanis who will continue to be terrorized by both "good Taliban" and "bad Taliban".
The Judge, the Prosecutor and and PML N should be considered suspects.
As a Pakistani, I am horrified and baffled to read this. Why is this person out roaming freely when so many of us are still mourning our children. There may be no physical connection between this and the Peshawar massacre, but there is an ethical connection. The ATC, and by extension, the government needs to be more proactive in restricting people who carry out activities in the name of my people. We can't take this any more
Moment of reckoning for Pakistan, time to walk the talk and show that there are no good terrorists.
As a Pakistani I am outraged at this descision.Of all the people WE should know what it feels like when innocent lives are taken.Be it this side or the other side,lets give our kids a better tomorrow,much better than our today.If hate mongers like Hafiz Saeed or Lakhwi are involved in terror attacks,why dont we just handover these snakes to them?why do we have to carry the moral baggage of having these hate mongers amongst us.I am devastated of what happened to us,I dont wish this on anyone,anywhere in this world
what message are we giving by this decision. for us only those are terrorists who kill us and those who kill Indians are not terrorist.
Pak need to investigate and decide once and for all if these people had any role in committing the terrorist act in India or not, but at the same we must not forget about 60 or so Pakistani killed in Samjotha Express blast carried out by Indian terrorists and GOP needs to push Indian government to stop sheltering those terrorists involved and bring them to justice.