Pakistan government on Thursday challenged Islamabad High Court’s order suspending Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s detention under a public security order in the Supreme Court.
“The interior ministry on Thursday challenged the Islamabad High Court’s order to suspend the Mumbai attack accused’s detention in the Supreme Court,” a Pakistan interior ministry official told PTI.
The government has made a plea that the release of Lakhvi could cause law and order situation in the country as the IHC had “ignored” this very fact, he said.
“The IHC’s order to suspend Lakhvi’s detention under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) has weak legal grounds,” the official said.
Lakhvi’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi told PTI he would defend the Islamabad High Court’s order after receiving notice from the Supreme Court in the case.
“We will defend the IHC’s order as the government does not have a strong case,” he said.
The Islamabad High Court on Monday had ordered the conditional release of Lakhvi, asking him to deposit a security bond of Pakistani Rs. 1 million and appear in person in every hearing of the Mumbai attack case.
A day after the High Court approved Lakhvi’s release, he was arrested in an abduction case and a judicial magistrate in Islamabad sent him to two days police remand on charges of kidnapping.
Lakhvi, 54, was granted bail on December 18 in the Mumbai attack case but was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). He challenged his detention under MPO in the Islamabad High Court which on Monday suspended the government order, evoking a strong reaction from India.
The government has also announced that it will challenge Lakhvi’s bail after the winter break of courts ends on January 8.
Lakhvi and other six accused -- 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 that took place on November 26, 2008, and left 166 people dead.
Lakhvi was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009 in connection with the case. The trial has been underway since 2009.
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