File photo of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi
India has reacted strongly to the possibility that 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi could leave jail today after a Pakistan court cancelled government orders to keep him in prison after he was granted bail earlier this month.
"Islamabad High Court order on Lakhvi calls into question entire approach to terror, " said government sources in New Delhi. The issue will be raised diplomatically.
Pakistan had assured India that it would appeal against Lakhvi's bail in the Supreme Court, but that has yet to happen.
After Lakhvi was given bail on December 18, the Pakistan government used a special provision called the Maintenance of Public Order to keep him in jail for three months. Lakhvi challenged that decision and won his case today in the Islamabad High Court.
Lakhvi has since 2009 been in a jail in Rawalpindi, adjacent to the capital of Islamabad. The court that granted him bail said that it did not have evidence to prove Lakhvi's involvement in the worst-ever terror attack in India, in which 166 people were killed in Mumbai in 2008.
Lakhvi is one of seven people on trial in Pakistan for the siege of Mumbai, but the trial has produced no results so far. It has been closed to the media. India has repeatedly warned Pakistan that the glacial pace of the trial is unacceptable and undermines Pakistan's stated position on checking terrorism.
Indian investigators have submitted voice samples and other evidence that reveal Lakhvi talking on satellite phones to the 10 terrorists who sailed into Mumbai and attacked its most famous landmarks.