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Govt summons Pakistan high commissioner after 26/11 accused Lakhvi's detention order suspended

Pakistan detains Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi for 3 more months

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Monday suspended Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist and key 26/11 handler Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi's detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).The detention was ordered after Islamabad came under fire for leaving loopholes in the 26/11 case against Lakhvi (54) in Pakistan that allowed him to get bail on December 17.Lakhvi 's bail provoked outrage and raised questions about Pakistan's resolve to fight terrorism a day after the country suffered the worst terrorist attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in which around 150 people, mostly kids, were killed.The Islamabad high court suspended Lakhvi's three-month detention under MPO in response to his petition challenging it days after an anti-terrorism court ordered his bail.The 26/11 attacks handler moved the court on Friday after the government rejected his release plea.Lakhvi's lawyer, Raja Rizwan Abbasi, told the high court his client's detention was unlawful. "The court had previously accepted Lakhvi's bail, but the government unlawfully detained him in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail," he told the court."The granting of bail is an issue of fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution and the administration violates it through unlawful detention of my client."Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi suspended Lakhvi's detention even as his counsel requested the high court to annul his detention orders.He directed the government to file a reply on next hearing in the case on January 15 even as the concered law officer did not turn up for the hearing.Lakhvi, the LeT's operation commander, is among the seven facing charges of planning, financing and executing the 26/11 Mumbai carnage that killed 166 people.He was arrested along with his accomplices from LeT's headquarters in Muzaffarabad in December 2008. A case against them was registered in February 2009 and they have been in jail since then.The 26/11 case has been moving at a snail's pace in Pakistan with almost no headway.Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist who was caught and later executed for the Mumbai attacks, had named Lakhvi as his trainer.Abu Jandal, an Indian national arrested and deported from Saudi Arabia in June 2012, too confessed he was in the control room with Lakhvi in Karachi monitoring the Mumbai attacks.Pakistani-American David Headley, who had visited India ahead of 26/11, too had named Lakhvi for his role in 26/11.Observers believe Lakhvi's issue highlights Pakistan's double speak on terrorism while it claims its war on terror was against terrorists of all hues."The bail, MPO and suspension of MPO show contradictions inherent in a policy, which has long been kept in the realm of the obscure, and its contours are still not very clear," Pakistani analyst Muhammad Ilyas Khan told TOI.In Delhi, India summoned Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit to protest suspension of Lakhvi's detention."The foreign secretary (Sujatha Singh) conveyed strong concern at the lack of effective action by Pakistan's prosecuting authorities after the Anti-Terrorism-Court ordered the release of internationally designated terrorist Lakhvi, whose involvement in the Mumbai terror attack is well known," ministry of external affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.The Indian mission in Islamabad took up the issue with the Pakistan Foreign Office.