ISLAMABAD, Pakistan  Criminal charges against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the man Indian and Western officials accuse of masterminding the terrorist siege of Mumbai last year, were dismissed Monday by a court in Lahore.

Although Pakistan has been pressed to charge Mr. Saeed with involvement in the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan insists that it lacks enough evidence linking him to the attacks and that the charges dismissed Monday were not directly related to them.

The charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, his lawyer said. It was the second time that Mr. Saeed had been held on lesser charges that did not hold up in court.

Mr. Saeed is the founder of the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, 10 of whose members killed 163 people in a rampage in Mumbai in November.