Daily Times

The case of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is no less than a saga. The alleged mastermind behind the devastating 2008 Mumbai attacks has been in and out of detention and the courts, with the latest decision regarding his fate making him a free man. A district and sessions court has acquitted the Lakhvi in a six-and-a-half year old abduction case of an Afghan national. In December 2014, Lakhvi was apprehended by the police mere days after he was granted bail by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) and just one day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) refused to grant him bail. As can be seen, he has been in and out of custody but now, it seems, he is a free man. It appears there was not enough evidence against him to put him in jail and throw away the key. The case built by the prosecution was apparently flimsy. We have heard all this before in many controversial cases. Lakhvi is also a top leader of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a militant group known for its activities in Kashmir. The fact that he is, for all intents and purposes, a free man will rile many feathers, and rightfully so.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is enemy number one for our neighbour, India. India claims that it had intercepted dialogue between Lakhvi and Ajmal Kasab, one of the gunmen in the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan refused to hand over any of its apprehended suspects to India and India refused to entertain any Pakistani committee to talk to the terror suspects. With no compromise and no way to ascertain facts, recourse was left to the courts in Pakistan, and we all know what they are like. We have heard time and again how evidence gathering is weak, how witnesses back down from recording statements due to threats and intimidation and how there is never enough of a case to follow through with prosecution. However, where Lakhvi is concerned, the charge sheet against him is long but the treatment he has been meted out speaks of the possibility of higher powers protecting him. He has been let go many times and feeble attempts to keep him in custody have made the judicial system in Pakistan a laughing stock. The fact that we cannot build a solid case against a known terrorist mastermind is disgraceful. The whole world looks at Pakistan in shock and disbelief for how the country is unable to lock up its own villains. The case of Lakhvi is a perfect example of all that is wrong with our legal system and the way we deal with known militants. *