Indian fury as Pakistan frees key terror suspect

INDIA reacted with anger and dismay this week when a Pakistani court released the suspected mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, in which 166 people were killed in a three-day massacre.

Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is believed to be military commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group, was released on bail by the Lahore High Court after the Pakistan government failed to provide sufficient evidence for his continued detention.

His release was denounced by India as an “insult” to Mumbai’s victims, while Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it was a setback for the prospects of peace talks.

“India wants talks with Pakistan but the present development is unfortunate and disappointing,” he said.

Lakhvi’s lawyer welcomed his release as a “triumph for law and justice”.

A spokesman for a charity linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba confirmed that Lakhvi was “free now and in a secure place”.

He was one of seven men arrested in Pakistan in 2009 on suspicion of directing the terrorist attack from a remote control room. Ten heavily armed, LACK OF EVIDENCE: Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi commando-style terrorists took detailed instructions from controllers in Pakistan by phone as they shot dead guests at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels and commuters at the Chhatrapati Shivaji railway station. They also attacked a café and a Jewish centre.

Tape recordings of telephone intercepts, which appeared to feature Lakhvi’s voice in the control room, were passed to Pakistan’s investigators.

The Pakistan government hailed the arrest of Lakhvi and his alleged collaborators as evidence that it was seriously tackling terrorism — but India remained sceptical. Its then prime minister, Manmohan Singh, accused elements of Pakistan’s security services of involvement in the plot.

Senior Indian intelligence figures said they believed Lakhvi would be released because a trial would expose links between Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence agency and terrorist groups.

“They fear this will come back to Islamabad, where it was planned or approved,” Vikram Sood, the former head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency, said in 2009.

The case against Lakhvi was weakened when he refused to provide a voice sample for investigators to verify if the commander caught on the Indian telephone intercept was him.

Talat Masood, a former general and now a leading Pakistani security analyst, said the case had become a “political football” between India and Pakistan, which meant it would be difficult for Lakhvi to be detained again. —