Updated
Islamabad, Apr 10 (PTI): Pakistan today blamed India for "inordinate delay" in extending cooperation in the 2008 Mumbai attack trial, saying it complicated the case of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and weakened the prosecution, leading to the release of the LeT operations commander.
"As I had mentioned earlier also, inordinate delay in extending cooperation by India complicated the case and weakened the prosecution. We respect the judicial process and are confident that it would serve the interest of justice," Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said.
"The case of Mumbai attack suspects is sub-judice. It would not be proper to cast aspersions on Pakistan's commitment to countering terrorism at a time when Pakistan has entered a critical stage of defeating the menace of terrorism," she said when asked about her Indian counterpart's remarks on the Lahore High Court ruling, ordering Lakhvi's release.
Fifty five-year-old Lakhvi, who guided 10 LeT gunmen from a control room in Pakistan during 26/11, walked free today after being under detention for six years, a day after a Pakistani court ordered his release.
Lakhvi, a close relative of LeT founder and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009, in connection with the 26/11 attack that claimed 166 lives. The trial has been underway since 2009.
Earlier Report
Lakhvi walks free from Pak jail, India unhappy
Lahore, Apr 10 (PTI): LeT operations commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind, today walked free from a Pakistani jail after spending nearly six years in detention.
Lakhvi was released from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, a day after Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended his detention and ordered his immediate release.
India had strongly reacted to the court's decision, saying it "eroded" the value of assurances repeatedly conveyed to it by Pakistan on cross-border terrorism.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa supporters were present outside the prison to receive 55-year-old Lakhvi.
The court yesterday suspended the Punjab government's order to detain Lakhvi under a security act and ordered his immediate release.
Earlier today, Lakhvi's counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi had told PTI that the government was left with no other 'legal option' but to release his client.
"The government is left with no other 'legal option' but to release his client after the LHC suspended his detention. Neither the government nor the Adiala Jail authorities can violate the court's order this time," he said.
Lakhvi and six others have been charged with planning and executing the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people and wounding over 300.
Lakhvi, a close relative of LeT founder and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009 in connection with the 26/11 attack case.The trial has been underway since 2009.
Lakhvi's release unfortunate, disappointing: Rajnath Singh
Voicing concern over the release of top Lashkar leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said India wants talks with Pakistan but the release of the Mumbai attack mastermind is an "unfortunate and disappointing" development.
"India wants talks with Pakistan but the present development (release of Lakhvi) is unfortunate and disappointing," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Singh was reacting to the Lahore High Court's judgement yesterday suspending the detention of 55-year-old Lakhvi under Maintenance of Public Order after the Pakistan government failed to present sensitive records against him in the court.
Asked about alliance partners PDP-BJP in Jammu and Kashmir speaking in different voices on composite townships for settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley, Singh said, "An agreement has been reached with Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in this regard."
On the killing of five undertrials, who were allegedly associated with SIMI and other radical groups, in police custody in Nalgonda district in Telangana, he evaded giving a direct reply, saying, the matter was a state subject.