Lakhvi re-arrested, but Pakistan draws India's ire

Pakistani police rearrested 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi on Tuesday morning in a kidnapping case, drawing flak from India for deploying half-hearted measures when the terrorist should be tried for the 2008 Mumbai massacre.

Pakistani police rearrested 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi on Tuesday morning in a kidnapping case, drawing flak from India for deploying half-hearted measures when the terrorist should be tried for the 2008 Mumbai massacre.

Activists-of-the-Hindu-Sena-with-portraits-of-Zaki-ur-Rahman-Lakhvi-the-chief-suspect-in-the-26-11-attacks-trial-protest-near-the-residence-of-Pakistan-High-Commissioner-in-New-Delhi-AP-Photo

Police sought a week’s remand for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander against a fresh complaint that accused him of kidnapping a man, who has been in the custody of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a front for the terror outfit behind 26/11 in which 166 people died.

Police told the court that Lakhvi had abducted the complainant’s brother-in-law six-and-a-half years ago to use him for waging jihad.

Lakhvi’s lawyer contested the complaint but the magistrate allowed police a two-day remand for the terrorist who was arrested in December 2008 and kept in a Rawalpindi prison ever since.

He was set to walk out of jail after the Islamabad high court on Monday suspended his detention under a strict public safety law, finding no fault in the bail that an anti-terrorism court granted him 12 days ago.

Pakistani authorities tried various mechanisms to keep Lakhvi in jail in the wake of the bail announcement and India’s angry reaction to a high court’s approval of his release.

Indian political parties and foreign policy observers on Tuesday said Pakistan should not take tentative measures but show sincerity through convictions in the 26/11 case.