New Delhi: Reacting to the bail granted by a Pakistani court on Thursday to LeT operations commander and a key planner of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the move was ‘unfortunate’.
Talking to reporters in the national capital the Home Minister hoped that the Pakistan government appeals against it in higher court so that Lakhvi’s bail is cancelled.
“It is unfortunate that the person involved in 26/11 attacks has got bail. PM Sharif had announced a crackdown on terror,” Rajnath said, adding, “Hope Pakistan government will appeal in a higher court so that Lakhvi’s bail is cancelled.”
He added that there may have been a “lapse from the Pakistan government’s side”.
In a decision that has angered India and political leaders cutting across party lines, Lakhvi was given bail by a Pakistani court today.
The irony of it was that the decision came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had said that there was ‘no good Taliban and bad Taliban’. He had also vowed to rid the region of terror.
Sharif’s strong reaction came after Pakistani Taliban slaughtered more than 140 people in an Army Public School in Peshawar on Tuesday, with more than 130 of them being children.
The Pakistani PM had also pledged to announce a “national plan” to tackle terrorism within a week.
The incident in Peshawar was condemned across the world with the brutality of it shocking everyone.
On Lakhvi’s bail prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar told PTI that “Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi had granted bail to Zakiur Rehman.”
54-year-old Lakhvi and six others had filed bail applications yesterday in the midst of a lawyers strike to condemn the Peshawar school massacre.
Azhar said the prosecution had to produce more witnesses before this decision had come which they were not expecting.
“We were not expecting this decision as we have to produce a good number of witnesses in the case. We are awaiting the court’s detailed order before giving further comment on the decision,” he said.
Lakhvi’s counsel advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi told PTI that the court had granted bail as “evidence against Lakhvi was deficient”.
The seven accused – Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum – are facing trial at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi
Meanwhile, as per reports the Indian mission in Pakistan is preparing a strong response against the grant of bail to Lakhvi.
