India seeks UN intervention over Lakhvi's release

In a letter to UN's Sanction Committee, India says Lakhvi's release is in violation UN resolution 1267

India has decided to approach the United Nations over the release of the alleged 26/11 Mumbai bombing mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in Pakistan.

India's permanent representative to the UN Asoke Mukherjee wrote a letter to the chairman of UN's Sanctions’ Committee in which he termed Lakhvi's release by a Pakistani court was in violation of the UN resolution 1267 dealing with designated entities and individuals.

This resolution is associated with terrorist organisations and groups which include al Qaeda and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), wherever they are located.

The Indian convoy specified in his letter that the bail amount provided was against the sanctions’ committee rule which calls for freezing the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of designated individuals and entities.

The sanctions’ committee is dominated by five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member-states in the UN.

Lakhvi's release was viewed with concern in US, Russia, France and Germany. Washington has since demanded that Lakhvi be arrested again.

Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged in Pakistan but their cases have made virtually no progress in more than five years, paving the way for his release on April 9.

Earlier in April, a court had acquitted Lakhvi in a six-and-a-half-year old case pertaining to the abduction of a man for want of evidence.

This article originally appeared in Hindustan Times.