Pakistan court orders release of Mumbai attacks suspect

A Pakistan court on Friday cancelled a detention order against the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, a senior government lawyer told AFP, potentially paving the way for his release.
It is the latest round in a tussle over Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, accused over the terror siege that left 166 dead, which has worsened already strained ties with India.
Lakhvi was granted bail by an anti-terror court in December, infuriating New Delhi, but quickly slapped with a detention order under public order laws.
The Islamabad High Court suspended that order only for the Supreme Court to reinstate it in January.
Now on Friday the high court once again set aside the detention order, senior government lawyer Jehangir Jadoon told AFP, adding that a detailed judgement explaining the decision was expected later.
Friday's ruling means Lakhvi could be released, though the government can still appeal to the Supreme Court and for now he remains in jail.
Lakhvi has never been let out of Adiyala Prison in Rawalpindi throughout the back and forth over his detention, which prompted an angry response from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was initially granted bail.
The Mumbai attacks were blamed on banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). India has long seethed at Pakistan's failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning and organising the violence.
Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged in Pakistan but their cases have made virtually no progress in more than five years.