An Anti-Terrorism Court in Pakistan on Thursday gave bail to lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) terrorist Zaki-ur-Rehman lakhvi, triggering an outrage in India. leT’s operations commander lakhvi was involved in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and is one of the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the 2008 crime. He along with other six others was granted bail for “lack of evidence”.
Taken aback by the development, India has argued that 99 per cent of evidence in his case is in Pakistan since the entire operation was conspired, planned, financed and executed from there. And the remaining 1 per cent has been handed over to Pakistan in the form of statements by Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists caught and executed by India, Abu Jindal, and Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley. India had also given audio recording of conversation between lakhvi and terrorists operating in India.
In a sharp reaction, New Delhi has told Islamabad that there could be no selective approach to terrorism, emphasising that it should realise that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists. India is working with its High Commission in Pakistan to prepare a strong response against bail to lakhvi and pursue the Pakistani Government to challenge the bail in higher court.
All 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. lakhvi, who was the operational head of the banned leT, was one of the key planners of the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. His release comes a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pledged to eliminate terrorism from his soil and the “entire region”.
“India cannot accept that Zaki-ur-lakhvi, a key conspirator of Mumbai attacks and a UN designated terrorist, is being released on bail. The grant of bail to lakhvi will serve as a reassurance to terrorists who perpetrate heinous crimes,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs.
“We call upon the Government of Pakistan to immediately take steps to reverse this decision. There can be no selective approaches to terrorism. Given the scale of the tragedy that Pakistan itself has faced in recent days, it is incumbent on it to realise that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists,” the official spokesperson said.
Rejecting Pakistan Government’s comment that there was not enough evidence against lakhvi, MEA spokesperson Akbaruddin said Pakistan has 99 per cent of the evidence in the Mumbai attacks case and it was incumbent on the Government of that country to provide them to the court.
“let us not forget that the entire conspiracy of the Mumbai attack was planned in Pakistan. let us not forget that those who were involved in the conspiracy as well as those who carried out that attack were from Pakistan. let us not forget that the training of all these were done in Pakistan. let us not forget that financing of this entire thing was done in Pakistan. Therefore, it is incumbent on the Government of Pakistan to provide the evidence. It is our view that 99 per cent of the evidence in the Mumbai terror attack case is in Pakistan. The 1 per cent that we have, we have provided to them,” he said.
Terming the bail as a setback to justice procedure, public prosecutor in the Mumbai terror attack case Ujjwal Nikam said: “With lakhvi on bail, prosecution witnesses will not like to come forward and give evidence. There is an overwhelming evidence against lakhvi. Had there been no evidence, he would have been released earlier. I and senior Indian Government officials had visited Islamabad and we pointed out voluminous evidence against lakhvi. In spite of this, lakhvi had not been charged with criminal conspiracy.”
Blaming failure of Pakistani prosecution in giving sufficient evidence against lakhvi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed this development “very unfortunate,” more so since it came just two days after the terror attack in Peshawar where over 132 schoolchildren were killed. He hoped that the Pakistan Government will approach a higher court against this order and ensure its cancellation.
Singh said India had meticulously pursued the Mumbai attacks case which resulted in fast trial and delivery of justice with the hanging of one of the terrorists Ajmal Kasab. “But it is not happening in Pakistan. We have given enough evidence against the terrorists,” the Home Minister said. Singh also demanded that Pakistan should walk the talk on terror and hand over India’s most wanted terrorists, including leT founder Hafiz Sayeed, Dawood Ibrahim to India.