Pakistani prosecutor alleges foul play over bail to Lakhvi

Chief Pakistan prosecutor in the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, Chaudhry Azhar says the bail will lead to unusual delays in the case. Shahzad Raza reports from Islamabad.

A Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Court’s decision to release Zia-ur Rehman Lakhvi on bail left the prosecutors flabbergasted.

“How on earth the (anti-terrorism) court could order his release on bail, when his bail application was earlier rejected on the same premise?” asked chief prosecutor in the Mumbai attacks case Chaudhry Azhar.

In an interview with rediff.com, he explained during early hearings of the case the same court had rejected his bail application after the admission of lone surviving attacker Ajmal Kasab that Lakhvi masterminded the Mumbai attacks that left more than 160 people dead and 300 injured in 2008.

Advocate Azhar elaborated that the bail was first rejected when Kasab’s statement was merely recorded by the Mumbai police. The defence counsels of Lakhvi had then argued that police recorded the statement of Kasab under coercion.

“But now Kasab’s statement is part of the official court record. And there is a tradition between India and Pakistan to honour the judgements of each other’s courts,” he said.

The Bombay high court and Supreme Court had upheld the death sentence to Kasab, who was hanged in November 2012.

Azhar revealed the ATC judge Kosar Abbas Naqvi had not yet provided the prosecutors with the signed copy of his judgment in Lakhvi’s case. The signed copy of the order was necessary to file an appeal in the superior courts against the bail.

“It forces me to think that prosecutors are being deprived of the opportunity to appeal before the superior court and get a stay order against the bail to Lakhvi,” he asserted.

Two days after Peshawar attack last Tuesday, which left 132 children dead, the ATC ordered to release the mastermind of Mumbai attack.

The prosecutors could file an appeal before the Islamabad high court against the release order, only if they were given a signed copy of the ATC order.

 And here the chief prosecutor smells a foul play.

The high court is on winter vacations for two weeks from December 22.

“Now we can only appeal against the verdict on January 8, when the winter vacations are over. During the vacations the courts only accept cases of extreme urgency. But this case does not fall in that category,” Azhar said.

However, Lakhvi will not come out of jail. After he was granted bail, the Pakistani authorities have already detained him under the Maintenance of Public Order law. The act allows the authorities to keep any individual under detention for the maximum of 90 days if there are apprehensions that his freedom might disturb the public peace.

In his mid-50s, Lakhvi was the top commander of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and was allegedly involved in several terrorist acts in India including the deadly Mumbai attacks.

He was considered the most trusted aide of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. After General Pervez  Musharraf regime banned the LeT, in January 2002, its leadership started operating under the nomenclature of Jamat-ud-Dawa.

 Indian authorities had alleged that Lakhvi trained terrorists like Ajmal Kasab and Azam Cheema who executed horrendous attacks on Indian soil.

In December 2008, the Indian authorities named him as one of four possible major planners behind the Mumbai attacks.

On December 7, 2008 Pakistani armed forces arrested him. In November 2009, the ATC formally charged him and six others for planning and helping execute the Mumbai attacks.

 “This is an unusual and unexpected decision. We are now expecting unnecessary delay in the case. We already have recorded the statements of 46 witnesses. We were hoping a decision against him (Lakhvi) and other accused by February 2015,” Azhar stated.

The prosecution demands the death penalty for Lakhvi and other accused in Mumbai attacks case. Pursuing such cases in Pakistan had never been easy. The prosecutors are always the soft targets.

Azhar’s predecessor, Chaudhry Zulfiqar, was assassinated in a broad daylight, in Islamabad, some two years ago. Besides Mumbai attacks case, he was also pursuing the murder trial of Benazir Bhutto.

Azhar himself fears serious threats to his life.

 “The authorities are not serious about my security details despite the fact that I am dealing with high-profile terror cases,” he lamented. After he succeeded Chaudhry Zulfiqar, he was provided with four police guards. Recently, two of the guards have been called back.

Shahzad Raza is an Islamabad-based journalist.