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03/28/2024 02:53:14 pm

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Head of 2008 Mumbai Assault Released by Pakistani Courts, Draws Outrage from India

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi

(Photo : Reuters) Recently released Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, head of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, speaks at a public event

A man who carried out a 2008 assault on India's financial capital Mumbai, killing as much as 166 people, was recently released by a Pakistani court yesterday his lawyer reporter.

The man in question is named Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. He is the top leader of one of the largest and most active terrorist organizations in South Asia, the Army of the Good. It operates mainly out of Pakistan.

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On November 2008, a group of 10 participated in a series of coordinated shootings and bombings in Mumbai that lasted a total of four days across the landscapes of Mumbai.

The following month, India officials named Lakhvi as one of four major people who had planned the Mumbai attacks. Since then, he had been in jail.

Until yesterday, when he was released on bail.

The decision to release Lakhvi comes months after India and Pakistan had engaged in one of the most terrible cross-border acts of violence in more than a decade in the Kashmir region.

Upon the release of Lakhvi, citizens of India were outraged. The country then warned Pakistan that relations between that the two nuclear-armed neighbours were worsening.

United States commented that they were also gravely worried by the court's move.

Lakhvi's lawyer reported to Reuters that his client was out, but did not know where he would now head.

A ministry spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs openly condemned the releasing of Lakhvi.

He had commented that the releasing has reinforced the notion that Pakistan has a dual policy regarding handling terrorists.

In addition, he said that terrorists who have attacked India or are planning to are being handled in a very different way, while also stating how the action was a poor development for bilateral ties.

The outrage spread towards social media though, prompting people to release tweets saying, ""Dear Pakistani courts. Would it take Lakhvi to mow down children in a Peshawar school for you to see him for the terrorist he is?"

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