UN assures India over Lakhvi's issue

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) committee has assured India that it will take up the issue of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi at its next meeting, after India expressed concern that the LeT commander's release from a Pakistani jail violates the provisions of the UN.

India's Ambassador to the UN Asoke Mukerji had written a letter to the Chair of the UNSC al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee Ambassador Jim McLay expressing concern over Lakhvi's release and said it violates the provisions of the committee concerning al-Qaeda and associated individuals and entities.

Acknowledging India's concerns,  McLay has responded to India's letter and assured that the matter will be discussed at the next meeting of the committee, sources here told PTI.

The next meeting of the committee is expected to take place in the next few days.

Lakhvi and six others — Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum — have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that left 166 people dead.

Lakhvi, 55, was arrested in December 2008 and was indicted along with the six others on November 25, 2009 in connection with the 26/11 attack case.