ISLAMABAD: The detention orders of the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, were declared void by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday.

IHC's Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi accepted Lakhvi's appeal filed against his third time detention orders and ordered the immediate release of the alleged Mumbai attack mastermind.

The IHC had earlier reserved its decision over the application.

Lakhvi has been granted bail in both cases against him, including the 2008 Mumbai attack case and the six-year-old case pertaining to the kidnapping of an Afghan national.

India reacts to Lakhvi's release orders

Indian External Affairs Ministry's (EAM) has summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and sought from him an explanation over Lakhvi’s release.

Commenting on the IHC order to release Lakhvi, India's Home Ministry said in a statement that, "It is the responsibility of the Pakistan government to take all legal measures to ensure that Lakhvi does not come out of jail."

Junior Home Minister Kiren Rijiju was quoted on The Hindu website as saying, "The overwhelming evidence against Lakhvi has not been presented properly before court by Pakistani agencies."

He added "there are no good terrorists or bad terrorists."

Read: Lakhvi living comfortable 'detention' life in jail: BBC report

Lakhvi is accused of being the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people. The Pakistani government took Lakhvi and other suspects into custody in February 2009 for ‘facilitating’ the attacks.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had also registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Lakhvi and six other alleged abettors in 2009.

Also read: Govt finally finds lawyer to prosecute Lakhvi

In August 2009, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was appointed special prosecutor in the case. Later, Advocate Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry was also appointed senior prosecutor.

After the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar on May 3, 2013, the FIA handed over the job to Abuzar Hasnain Pirzada.

Read: Legal loopholes led to Lakhvi’s bailing out

India and some other countries took strong exception to the granting of bail to Lakhvi by an anti-terrorism court, only a couple of days after the December 16 terrorist attacks on Army Public School, Peshawar.

This had forced the government to detain Lakhvi under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

Also read: IHC orders conditional release of Mumbai attacks mastermind

The IHC on December 29 suspended the detention order, but the Supreme Court on January 7 restored Lakhvi’s detention and asked the IHC to decide the matter after hearing the federal government.

The prosecution in the Mumbai attacks case has also filed a petition seeking the cancellation of Lakhvi’s bail.

In the petition, the FIA’s special prosecutor claimed that, “The fact remained that being the prosecution in such cases has been the most difficult job in our country for the last many years.” The petition further states, “Even in this case, the prosecutors have been receiving threats on their cellphones during the proceedings which were duly conveyed to the concerned authorities. The witnesses are also not protected and were reluctant to depose against the accused persons in the given situation.”

The government, in the meantime, had registered another FIR against Lakhvi on December 29 in a six-year-old case of the kidnapping of an Afghan national.

Lakhvi through his lawyer had filed petitions for his acquittal in the kidnapping case and for setting aside his detention order. Bail was again granted to Lakhvi on Jan 8, this time in the kidnapping case.

In-camera hearing of the petition filed by Lakhvi against his detention under the MPO were held initially, during which the federal government submitted on Tuesday some ‘classified documents’ before the court.

The court then resumed hearing in the open court.

Also read: Govt told to inform court before registering new cases against

On Mar 2, IHC directed the federal government not to register any new case against Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, without informing the court.