ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ordered the conditional release of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi — the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

The court suspended his detention orders, which were issued by the Islamabad district administration soon after an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) granted him bail on December 18. He is now expected to be released from prison sometime on Tuesday.

IHC Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi had directed the accused to submit a security bond worth Rs1 million for his release and directed the federal government’s standing counsel to submit a detailed reply on the petition Lakhvi had filed challenging his detention.

Lakhvi was granted post-arrest bail by an Islamabad ATC a couple of weeks ago, but the federal government continued to detail him at the Adiala Jail under the section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

Judge asks Lakhvi to ensure appearance at subsequent hearings

Lakhvi had challenged his detention before the IHC on December 26. During Monday’s hearing, Lakhvi’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi said the court had previously accepted his client’s bail plea, but the administration continued to detain him, which was unlawful.

During an earlier hearing, the IHC issued notices to the federal government and had asked for a reply by Monday. However, federal government counsel, Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon appeared before the court and asked for more time to submit a reply.

Justice Qureshi observed that, “[The] standing counsel seeks time to reply to the allegations leveled by the petitioner (Lakhvi) as he is not in position to assist the court properly. Therefore I am left with no other option than to suspend the detention order of Dec 18.”

The court order further noted that, “Hence the detention order is suspended subject to furnishing of surety of a sum of Rs1 million.”

The judge also directed Lakhvi to “ensure his personal appearance on each and every date of proceedings of [the Mumbai attacks case] pending in the ATC”.

Apart from Lakhvi, the FIA arrested six other suspects in connection with the Mumbai attack case on February 19, 2009, including Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.

According to the verdict that ordered Lakhvi’s arrest, weak evidence, the registration of an FIR invoking irrelevant sections against the suspect, the ‘never-ending’ trial and hearsay evidence presented during the trial were what weakened the state’s case.

According to the order: “As per the contents of the FIR, the occurrence took place in November 2008 whereas the report was lodged on February 2, 2009.”

In the criminal proceedings, a delay in the lodging of an FIR on an offence always benefits the accused.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2014