Suspect in 2008 Mumbai Attacks Is Held in Pakistan on New Charge

Islamabad: Islamabad police on Tuesday rearrested a militant commander accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, just a day after a high court said he could post bail in that case.

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a senior commander with the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, was arrested Tuesday on charges of kidnapping a man in a new case that was opened at an Islamabad police station Monday night.

Lakhvi had been scheduled to be released Tuesday from a maximum-security prison in Adiala, on the outskirts of Rawalpindi.

Police officials said a complaint was lodged against Lakhvi for kidnapping the man after allegedly luring him to wage jihad.

There was no immediate explanation from officials as to why the complaint was registered only this week. A civil court judge on Tuesday morning allowed the Islamabad police to detain Lakhvi for two more days to investigate the allegations.

Lakhvi was presented before the judge in an Islamabad district court under strict security. Police officers and paramilitary troops were present in large numbers outside the court compound during the hearing.

Raja Rizwan Abbasi,  the lawyer for Lakhvi, denounced the new case and said the kidnapping charge was "fabricated and fake."

Lakhvi was first granted bail on Dec. 18 after a judge declared that there were insufficient grounds to continue his detention in the Mumbai case. But the government immediately ordered a 30-day extension of his detention. His lawyer objected to the move, and a judge of the Islamabad High Court accepted that plea Monday and ordered his release.

The latest twist demonstrated the pressure the Pakistani government is under to keep Lakhvi behind bars because of diplomatic protests by India and concerns expressed by the United States.

Lakhvi is among seven people who are standing trial over accusations that they were involved in the Mumbai attacks, which deeply strained relations between India and Pakistan. More than 160 people were killed in the coordinated attacks.

The trial here has been going on since 2009, and the Indian government has protested the slow pace of the prosecution. Pakistani officials have responded by saying that the evidence offered by India has been weak and insufficient.