A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Islamabad police chief about alleged security threats to 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.
“The Anti-Terrorism Court, Islamabad judge who held the proceedings at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi directed the Inspector General Police, Islamabad to submit a reply in the court on the next hearing (May 13) about the security threat, if any, Lakhvi is facing,” a court official said.
Advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi, counsel for Lakhvi, had filed the application in the trial court requesting it to exempt his client from appearing in the court in the Mumbai case as he is facing serious threats to his life, allegedly from a foreign intelligence agency and a Taliban wing.
“Lakhvi may be assassinated while coming to or leaving the court. Since the trial in the Mumbai attack case began in February 2009, Lakhvi and six other suspects had been attending the proceedings inside Adiala Jail.
“But after his release (on bail last month) Lakhvi will now have to appear before the court on his own thus putting his life in serious danger,” Abbasi argued in the court and requested it to exempt his client from personal attendance in the case hearings till conclusion of the case.
Meanwhile, the judge could not hold the hearing in the Mumbai attack case as the record is still lying with the Islamabad high court.
The judge directed a Federal Investigation Agency deputy director who is part of the prosecution team to contact the registrar of Islamabad High Court and ensure provision of the record in the next hearing.
During the last hearing in the Mumbai case on April 30, the ATC had adjourned the proceedings when it was informed that the record of the case could not be retrieved from the Islamabad High Court.
The case record was transferred to the Islamabad High Court in the first week of January when the federal government challenged the bail to LeT operations commander Lakhvi.
Virtually no proceedings have been held since the trial court granted bail to Lakhvi on December 14, 2014.
On April 10, Adiala Jail authorities released Lakhvi after the Lahore High Court suspended his detention under a security act.
The Islamabad High Court has given a two-month deadline (by middle of next month) to the trial court to conclude the case.
Lakhvi and six others - Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum - have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that killed 166 people.
