Pakistan court declares Lakhvi's detention illegal; orders his release

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court today declared the detention orders of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack, as illegal and ordered his immediate release, a media report said.

Justice Noorul Haq accepted Lakhvi's appeal filed against his third time detention orders and ordered his release, Dawn online reported.

Lakhvi, along with six other suspects, was in detention since February 2009. He is accused of being the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed.

The Pakistani government took Lakhvi and other suspects into custody in February 2009 over charges of "facilitating" the attack. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Lakhvi and the six other alleged abettors in 2009, the report added.

India and some other countries took strong exception to granting bail to Lakhvi, only a couple of days after the December 16 terrorist attack on Army Public School, Peshawar last year.

The Islamabad High Court on December 29 suspended the detention order, but the Supreme Court on January 7 restored Lakhvi's detention.

The six other men facing trial in Adiala Jail for their alleged involvement are: Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.

At the time of the attack, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) that has been accused by India of carrying out the attack in India's financial capital.