LAHORE, July 11: The Supreme Court granted bail on Monday to Malik Mohammad Ishaq, the alleged mastermind of the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team.

A division bench comprising Justice M.A. Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the prosecution in establishing its case against the accused.

The court said the prosecution produced only two witnesses who stated that they had heard conversations between some people planning to make the Sri Lankan cricket team hostage to get Malik Ishaq released from jail.

The bench censured an additional prosecutor and said: “The judiciary has to face the wrath of the public when it releases the accused due to lack of evidence and weak case of the prosecution.”

Defence counsel Qazi Misbahul Hasan argued that his client had been languishing in jail for 12 years, but the prosecution failed to produce any cogent evidence which could prove him to be guilty of any offence.

He said Malik Ishaq had been acquitted in 34 of the 44 cases against him. He completed sentences in two cases, in which he had made confessions, and had been discharged in one case. He got bail in six cases.

The counsel said the prosecution had accused his client of being the mastermind of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, but failed to establish the charges.

The court granted bail to Malik Ishaq, who belongs to banned outfit Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, subject to furnishing of two bail bonds of Rs500,000 each.