LHC orders Lakhvi’s release

Lakhvi was arrested after an FIR was registered against him based on the information provided by Indian authorities


Rana Tanveer April 12, 2015
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE:


Last week, Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered the release of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.


Earlier, the court had directed the Home Department to present any information that linked Lakhvi to the attacks.

However, the department only provided information copied from some media websites after which its counsel asked for more time. The court suspended the detention order and ordered Lakhvi’s immediate release.

Lakhvi was arrested after an FIR was registered against him based on the information provided by Indian authorities. On November 25, 2009, Lakhvi was indicted along with six others for planning and helping to carry out the Mumbai attacks. An anti-terrorism court granted him bail against Rs500,000 surety bonds on December 18, 2014. The same day, a local magistrate issued a detention order for one month. On December 29, 2014, Islamabad High Court set aside the detention order and directed the authorities to release him. The Okara DCO ordered his detention on March 12 under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

Bail dismissed

Tahir Mehdi Imtiaz Warraich, the manager of daily Al-Fazl, a 102-year-old Ahmadiyya publication, was sent to jail after a judicial magistrate dismissed his bail application.

An FIR was registered against him for publishing another Ahmadi monthly Ansarullah. Earlier, weekly Lahore, an Ahmadi-owned magazine, and two printing presses owned by Ahmadis were closed down.

Signal-free corridor

A full bench continued hearing petitions challenging the Jail Road Signal Free Corridor Project. The petitioners’ counsel, Advocate Salman Akram Raja, and the Lahore Development Authority’s counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmed argued before the bench. The bench will resume the hearing from Monday (today). On March 6, the LHC had stayed work on the project and directed the LDA to immediately remove all construction machinery from the site.

Model Town society membership

On April 16, the LHC will resume hearing a petition involving one of its judges. On March 31, the court had stayed the process of listing Justice Abdul Sami Khan as member of the Model Town Cooperative Housing Society (MTCHS).

Through their counsel, the petitioners, Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, Ghulam Moinuddin Javed and Sajid Arif Nomani, claimed that the judge had apparently agreed to purchase their property from a land grabber.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the LHC then suspended the operation of an order of the circle registrar of cooperative societies directing the MTCHS to list Justice Khan as a member.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2015. 

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