Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, one the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, was granted bail on Thursday by the anti-terrorism court in the country.
Lawyer Ujjwal Nikam says that while justice has been delivered to some victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, their conspirators are still hiding in Pakistan. He criticizes Pakistan's handling of the trials of those arrested and calls for action against masterminds like Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
A lawyer defending the seven Pakistanis, including Lashkar-e-Tayiba top commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, accused of involvement in the Mumbai attacks on Monday claimed that a verdict against Ajmal Kasab would result in the dropping of the main charge against his clients.
Pakistani prosecutors have failed to provide 'concrete evidence' linking Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to the 2008 Mumbai attacks even after a lapse of nearly two years since the terror siege, one of the lawyers defending Lakhvi has said. The Federal Investigation Agency, which probed the Mumbai terror attacks and arrested Lakhvi, has "failed to furnish concrete evidence against" him, lawyer Shahbaz Ahmed Janjua told the media in Rawalpindi on Monday.
A Pakistani court reserved till Wednesday its decision on a petition filed by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi seeking his acquittal in the Mumbai attack case.
Pakistani authorities have 161 witnesses and 'incriminating' evidence to nail Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects in the Mumbai terror attack case. Rejecting the defence counsel's objections to the validity of the confessional statement made to Indian authorities by Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested in Mumbai, Special Public Prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Noon said it was received through proper channels.
While disposing of the application, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif directed the federal and Punjab governments to ensure that foolproof security is provided to Lakhvi and his counsel Khwaja Sultan.
In his application filed last week, Lakhvi had claimed that there was a purported threat to his life as a number of agents of the Indian spy agency Research and Analyses Wing were present in Rawalpindi. He asked for his trial to be transferred from an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi to Lahore.
The trial of seven Pakistani men, charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror strike, was adjourned for a week after one of the key accused, Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, filed a petition against the judge of the anti-terrorism court. During a hearing held behind closed doors in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, due to security reasons, Lakhvi's lawyers submitted the petition in which he expressed dissatisfaction with Judge Shahid Rafique.
Top Lashker-e-Taiba operative Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and three other suspects in the Mumbai attacks case have been remanded to the custody of Pakistani authorities for two more weeks by an anti-terrorism judge.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the suspected Mumbai attacks mastermind, and communications expert Zarar Shah are in Pakistan's custody, said sources.The Federal Investigation Agency had lodged an FIR against them in connection with the 26 11 terror strikes. Both Lakhvi, Shah and Hamad Ameen Sadiq, a key terrorist linked to the Mumbai terror attack, are linked to the LeT and have been named in the FIR lodged by the FIA.
Lashker-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who is facing trial with six others for his alleged involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, has filed a petition in Pakistan's Supreme Court, asking it to bar the prosecution from using Ajmal Amir Kasab's confessional statement against him. The petition was filed by Lakhvi's counsel in the Lahore Registry of the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It asked the apex court to bar the prosecution from using Kasab's confession.
The Anti-Terrorism Court also observed that the statement of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai gunman, could not be produced as evidence in the court, as it was not according to the guidelines set in the Article 43 of the country's penal code.
Laskhar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the 26/11Mumbai terror attacks, has filed a petition before the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi bench seeking his acquittal in the case.
Pakistani investigators have found 'substantial evidence' directly connecting LeT to the November 26, 2008 attacks and proving 'beyond any reasonable doubt' that it planned and financed the terror strikes, the Dawn newspaper said.
Lashker-e-Taiba's (LeT) operations head Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, has challenged his indictment in the 26/11case ,saying there is not enough evidence against him.
Lawyers defending Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others charged with involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks have said that none of them will go to India as part of a proposed commission to record the testimony of key witnesses, including surviving attacker Ajmal Kasab.
The indictment of Lashkar-e-Tayiba leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects by a Pakistani anti-terror court for planning and helping execute the Mumbai attacks will be challenged in the Lahore high court, as authorities have no solid evidence against them, the militant commander's lawyer said on Sunday.
The Pakistan Supreme Court rejected a petition filed by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi seeking acquittal in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case after his counsel withdrew the plea on Thursday.
Lawyers defending seven Pakistani suspects, including Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, in the Mumbai attacks case, on Saturday contended that the report of judicial commission that visited India should not be made part of their trial as it had "no legal value".
A Pakistani court conducting the Mumbai attacks trial on Saturday reserved to July 17 its decision on Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi's application challenging the report of a judicial panel that probed the 2008 strikes, besides rejecting the bail plea of one of the seven suspects.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, one of seven suspects facing trial in connection with the Mumbai terror attacks, filed an application , on Wednesday, seeking the transfer of his case from Rawalpindi to Lahore due to a purported threat to his life.
A Pakistani court on Saturday adjourned till March 19 the trial of Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects charged with involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks after prosecution lawyers boycotted proceedings when they were not allowed to take their security details into the makeshift courtroom in a heavily guarded prison.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks reserved till Monday, its decision on a bail petition filed by Lashkar-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram on Friday voiced doubts whether Pakistan would ever extradite Mumbai terror attack accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and others charged in Pakistan in the 26/11 case.
A Pakistani anti-terror court conducting the trial of seven suspects charged with planning and facilitating the Mumbai attacks on Tuesday asked the government to respond to Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi's bail plea by July 17.
Top Lashker-e-Tayiba operatives, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah arrested yesterday for their links to the Mumbai attacks by Pakistani authorities, were today remanded by an anti-terrorism judge to police custody for 14 days.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba's operations commander and alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who was detained last month during Pakistan's crackdown on military groups, is reportedly furious at the Jamaat-ud-Dawah leadership's U-turn to publicly disown him.
In a report tabled before an anti-terrorism court, Pakistani investigators said there is "sufficient incriminating evidence" against the arrested terrorist, including Lashkar-e-Taiba's operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
A top Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist, believed to be nephew of the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was on Thursday gunned down by security forces in an encounter in north Kashmir's Bandipora district.
Pakistan on Saturday filed the chargesheet on the terror attack in Mumbai in November last year.The chargesheet admits the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's role in planning and executing the terror attack, which claimed 183 lives.The Pakistan government has named top LeT operative Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi as the mastermind of the terror attack.
"As far as the Indian suggestion is concerned, that will be dealt with according to our own laws and we will respond to India in due course," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters.
India is unlikely to permit a Pakistani judicial commission to visit the country again to cross examine the Mumbai terror attack witnesses unless a National Investigation Agency team is allowed to go to that country first and determines the necessity of such an exercise.
Lawyers for Lashkar-e-Tayiba's operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six more accused in the Mumbai attacks case on Saturday demanded at an anti-terror court that Ajmal Kasab be brought from India to Pakistan to face trial with the other suspects.
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the key planner of 2008 Mumbai attacks, on Friday challenged his detention under a public security order in the high court here after the Pakistan government rejected his plea seeking release.
It is believed that the government has decided to try the accused in a special anti-terrorism court and the proceedings are expected to be held in-camera. Reports suggested that the trial could be held at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. This decision is believed to have been influenced by the close links that existed earlier between the LeT and the Pakistani security establishment.
A Pakistani anti-terror court has adjourned the trial of seven suspects, including Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case till February 26 after prosecutors sought more time for the Lahore high court to decide a related petition.
Buoyed by a Pakistan court's order -- that stated that the trial of terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab cannot be separated from that of the seven Pakistani suspects arrested for planning the terror siege on Mumbai -- Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi plans to file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an acquittal. "We will approach the Supreme Court in a few days, following the Lahore high court's order," said Lakhvi's lawyer Khwaja Sultan.
A Pakistani court has approved a plea to send the records of the trial of seven suspects, including Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks along with a judicial commission that is set to visit India to interview key officials.
'The fight against terrorism will continue. We have set a new normal and the new normal is that we will follow an offensive strategy. Wherever terrorists are, we have to kill those terrorists and we have to destroy their infrastructure. So it is still not over but as we speak the ceasefire is still intact'