Islamabad: Lashkar-e-Toiba leaders Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah have been arrested for their suspected involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks, it was disclosed on Sunday.
The Pakistan government had announced on Thursday the arrest of six people for "planning, financing and abetting" the Mumbai terror attacks but about Lakhvi and Shah the Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik had merely stated that they have been "located and are under investigation".
It now turns out that the two LeT top operatives are among those arrested, according to Pakistani TV channels, which said that they and six other suspects were presented before the anti-terrorism court and had been remanded for 14-day custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for interrogation.
Anti-terror court judge Sakhi Mohammed Kahut remanded the suspects to the custody of the FIA for 14 days after they were produced before him at an undisclosed location, the reports said.
However, there was confusion over the number of suspects remanded to the FIA's custody. Geo News channel said six suspects were handed over to the investigating agency while Dawn News channel reported FIA was granted "physical remand" for eight suspects.
Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai attacks, was also named among the suspects by Malik, who had said two more suspects had been identified
but were still at large.
Shahbaz Ahmed Rajput, an advocate who said he had been hired by families of the suspects, too made an appearance at the court yesterday and claimed the accused were in "illegal detention". He also claimed some of the suspects had been detained in November without any formal charges being filed against them.
He said he did not favour holding of an in-camera trial. "The entire world is interested in this case and it is also a matter of the court's credibility."
Yesterday, Pakistani authorities kept the media guessing about whereabouts of the suspects. A large number of reporters waited in vain for almost the whole day at an anti-terrorism court where the suspects were expected to be produced.
Western diplomatic sources told PTI that Lakhvi, Shah and Sadiq were among the suspects being held by Pakistani security agencies. They had earlier been questioned by the ISI before being handed over to the security agencies, the sources said.
Lakhvi and Shah were held during raids by the Pakistan Army on LeT facilities near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in early December.
It is believed that the government has decided to try the accused in a special anti-terrorism court and the proceedings are expected to be held in-camera. Reports suggested the trial could be held at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
This decision is believed to have been influenced by the close links that existed earlier between the LeT and the Pakistani security establishment. Any disclosures about such links by the detained LeT suspects in an open court could prove embarrassing for the establishment, observers said.
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