Mumbai attack ‘mastermind’: Lakhvi’s in-camera hearing continues

High-profile suspect to be produced before magistrate today.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday adjourned in-camera proceedings of alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, till Thursday (today). Lakhvi had challenged his detentions orders by the government.

On January 12, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Afnan Karim Kundi requested Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi to conduct in-camera proceedings and keep the record of the case ‘secret’ in the case.

The Islamabad administration, on December 18, 2014 had detained Lakhvi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order after he was granted post-arrest bail by an anti-terrorism court. However, Justice Qureshi had suspended the detentions orders.

Later, the government challenged the IHC’s decision in the Supreme Court, which on January 7 this year set aside IHC’s orders and directed it to hear both parties, before deciding the matter.

A day earlier, Federal Investigation Agency’s special prosecutor Husnain Abuzar Pirzada submitted ‘classified’ documents related to the case. On Wednesday, proceedings were held again in-camera which continued for almost two hours, said a court official.

During the proceedings, the AAG, Islamabad Advocate General Mian Abdur Rauf, and Rizwan Abbasi, counsel for Lakhvi, appeared in the judge’s chambers.

After the hearing, the court put off the case till Thursday (today).

Currently, Lakhvi is also on a 14-day judicial remand in Adiala Jail in connection with a six-year old kidnapping case. The judicial remand of Lakhvi will expire today (Thursday) and he will be produced before the judicial magistrate.

The case was registered by Golra police on December 29, 2014 — the day Lakhvi’s detention orders were suspended — on the complaint of Muhammad Dawood, a resident of the capital’s outskirts.

However, Lakhvi’s counsel had challenged the FIR, terming the case fabricated and alleging it was registered after ‘pressure from India’.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2015.