Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi released from Adiala jail

LAHORE/NEW DELHI: Mumbai attacks mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has been released from Paksitan's Adiala jail. Lakhvi was released from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, a day after Lahore high court (LHC) suspended his detention and ordered his immediate release. India had strongly reacted to the court's decision, saying it "eroded" the value of assurances repeatedly conveyed to it by Pakistan on cross-border terrorism. Jamaat-ud-Dawa supporters were present outside the prison to receive 55-year-old Lakhvi. The court on Thursday suspended the Punjab government's order to detain Lakhvi under a security act and ordered his immediate release. Earlier in the day, Lakhvi's counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi had said that the government was left with no other 'legal option' but to release his client. "The government is left with no other 'legal option' but to release his client after the LHC suspended his detention. Neither the government nor the Adiala Jail authorities can violate the court's order this time," he said. Lakhvi and six others - Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum - have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead. Lakhvi, a close relative of LeT founder and Jamaat-Ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009 in connection with the 26/11 attack case. The trial has been underway since 2009. -TOI