Parliament flays Pak bail to Lakhvi

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 19

Parliament today passed a resolution condemning bail to Lashkar-e-Toiba commander and key planner of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi by a Pakistan court. India also asked Islamabad to immediately reverse the bail, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, had come as a “shock”.

Parliament expressed concern at the delay in prosecuting the accused and blamed the “apathetic” attitude of the Pakistan Government that resulted in the court granting the bail. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan read out the resolution drafted with consensus of all parties. It said: “We express grave concern of the Indian people that just one day after the tragic killing of 145 innocent children and other persons in Peshawar, an accused terrorist could be released on bail by the same country. It seems the lesson that there should be no compromise with terrorists has not been learnt.”

The resolution said Pakistan must ensure that such terrorists are not released. “We reiterate the importance of Pakistan dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism in that country and ensuring that terrorists are not allowed to remain free to continue their evil activities against India and the countries of the region,” it said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in the Lok Sabha: “I demand of Pakistan to immediately reverse the bail.... We can say with surety that the Mumbai attack conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan and that 99 per cent of evidence is also in Pakistan. Their agencies had six years to gather that evidence.”  “By giving bail to Lakhvi, the Pakistan Government has made a joke of its commitment to fight terror without being selective,” she added.
Modi, speaking in the Lok Sabha, said the grant of bail had come as a “shock to all those who believe in humanity”.
Lakhvi is among seven men charged with planning and helping carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people lost their lives.
At the time of the attacks, Lakhvi was believed to be the operational head of the banned LeT. In December 2008, the United Nations Security Council committee looking into sanctions on the Al-Qaida and the Taliban had added Lakhvi to its list of terrorists and entities subject to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.