The Islamabad High Court after conducting an in-camera hearing of Zakhiur Rehman Lakhvi's bail application has decided to hear the matter in open court from today (Thursday). A single-member bench headed by Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi on Wednesday resumed the in-camera hearing of the petition filed by Lakhvi through his counsel Advocate Rizwan Abbasi against his detention orders.
During the two-day in-camera hearing of the case, the federation has submitted some classified documents and details of pending cases against the accused. Additional Attorney General (AAG) Afnan Karim Kundi, Advocate General for Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Mian Abdul Rauf and Special Prosecutor for Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Syed Husnain Abuzar Pirzada appeared before the bench. Advocate Rizwan Abbasi, counsel for Lakhvi, was also present in the court.
Later, after reviewing all the details against the accused submitted by the federation, the court decided to conduct open court hearing of the case from today (Thursday). Recently, the Supreme Court has annulled an interim order of the IHC in which the high court suspended the detention order of Lakhvi. The apex court remarked that the high court might have issued the order in hurry without giving a proper right of hearing to the government subsequently the SC referred the matter to IHC with directions to start hearing from January 12 on Lakhvi's pending application against the detention order.
Zakhiur Rehman Lakhvi was granted bail by an Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Islamabad on December 18, but the federal government has extended Lakhvi's detention in Adilia prison under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) which was challenged in the IHC by Lakhvi.
The IHC in its interim order while suspending the detention notification ordered the release of Lakhvi against surety bond worth Rs one million. The court directed Lakhvi to assure his presence before ATC Islamabad during the hearing of Mumbai terrorists attack case.