The notification detaining Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the key planner of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, under a public security order was on Monday suspended by the Islamabad High Court. The suspension orders were issued by Justice Noor ul Haq Qureshi, according to media reports.
Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Zaidi on December 18 had granted bail to Lakhvi in the Mumbai attack case citing lack of evidence against him, but before he could be released from jail, the government detained him for three more months under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
Lakhvi challenged his detention under MPO in the Islamabad High Court after the government rejected his plea for release.
Earlier,India strongly criticised the bail granted to 26/11 terror attack mastermind, and called on the Pakistan government to appeal in a higher court or “take steps to reverse the decision.”
Lakhvi, who was the operations commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, was charged along with six others in 2009 in the Mumbai attack case. Ajmal Kasab, executed in India, and David Coleman Headley, convicted in the U.S. for planning the attacks, had identified Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as the operations mastermind for the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.
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