ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday suspended the detention of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi. The order was by Justice Noor-ul-Haq Qureshi, Geo News reported.
On Dec 18, Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) Judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi had granted bail to Lakhvi. Lakhvi was, however, detained under the Maintenance of Public Order Dec 19 at Rawalpindi's central jail.
He was arrested by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in February 2009 on the basis of the confessional statement of the lone surviving attacker Ajmal Kasab, who was executed in an Indian jail Nov 21, 2012.
Taliban militants earlier this month killed 150 people, mostly school children, in an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar. Sympathy for the victims' families poured in from across the globe, including India, along with condemnation of the gruesome attack.
But the positive environment vanished within 24 hours when a Pakistan court granted bail to 2008 Mumbai attacks key planner Lakhvi, stunning not only India but also many Pakistanis, who wondered at the timing of his bail.
Pakistan acted fast to control the damage and before Lakhvi was freed, he was detained under a law which empowers authorities to detain a person who could endanger public peace. The government also decided in principle to challenge the bail in a high court, but failed to do so in practice as the higher courts closed for a two-week winter break.