India on Thursday strongly reacted to bail given to top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander and 26/11 accused Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi by Pakistan as ‘unacceptable’ and added that such steps taken by Islamabad would only serve as a reassurance to terrorists who perpetuate heinous crimes.
“We cannot accept that the LeT’s chief operations commander Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi , one of the key conspirators of the Mumbai terror attacks, in which so many innocent people were slaughtered, a person designated as an international terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is being released on bail. This comes just a few days after one of the most dastardly terrorist attacks took place in a school in Peshawar, where over a hundred children were purposefully and systematically butchered in the name of revenge,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media here.
Akbaruddin further criticized Pakistan for granting bail to the LeT commander following the Peshawar carnage and asked it to reconsider its decision.
“The grant of bail to Lakhvi will serve as a reassurance to terrorists who perpetuate heinous crimes. We call upon the Government of Pakistan to immediately take steps to reverse this decision; there can be no selective approaches to terrorism. Given the scale of the tragedy that Pakistan itself has faced in recent days, it is incumbent on it to realize that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s anti-terror court granted bail to Lakhvi. According to reports in The Dawn, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency’s prosecutor had disagreed with the bail plea, but the court released Lakhvi with surety bonds worth Pakistan Rs 5,00,000.
The LeT Commander’s bail comes just days after the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked a school in Peshawar. (ANI)