US-puppet Pakistan frees main suspect behind 2008 Mumbai attacks on bail

A Pakistani court has freed on bail the alleged mastermind behind the November 2008 terror attacks in India’s Mumbai.
Lawyers have reported that Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was granted bail by a judge in Islamabad on Thursday. They say the judge made the decision after hearing arguments from both sides.

Lakhvi has been under custody in Pakistan since 2008. He has to pay surety bonds worth of nearly USD 10,000 as bail before being released.

In 2008, a 60-hour siege on India’s economic capital left some 170 people dead. The attack was blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India, which provided the intelligence proving Lashkar-e-Taiba’s involvement in the attack, swiftly reacted to the court decision.

India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday described the ruling as “very unfortunate,” saying it expects Islamabad to appeal the decision.

Islamabad admitted in 2008 that the attacks were partly planned on its soil, but firmly denied allegations of any official involvement.

Mohammed Kassab, the Pakistani national who allegedly carried out the attacks, was executed by India in 2012 after he was found guilty of a string of charges, including waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts.

The new move by the Pakistani court comes a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to crack down on terror groups, following the massacre of over 140 people, mostly children, by the Taliban militants at a military-run school in Peshawar.