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A court in Lahore, Pakistan, today ordered the release of a firebrand Islamic cleric with alleged links to the deadly attacks in Mumbai, India, last year, sparking an angry rebuke from Indian officials that Pakistan is not committed to meting out justice to militants.
Hafiz Saeed, head of a charity that international organizations have said is tied to the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Saeed founded, had been held under house arrest, though he had not been publicly charged or indicted.
Lashkar-e-Taiba has been blamed for engineering and carrying out the attacks on Mumbai, India's commercial capital, that killed 166 people last November.
The United Nations regarded Saeed's charity, Jamaat ud-Dawa, as a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was formed 20 years ago to fight Indian rule in the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Many believe that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency played a critical role in the group's formation.
The order to free Saeed drew a harsh response from the Indian government.
"We are unhappy that Pakistan has not shown the degree of seriousness and commitment it should have to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks," Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters. ....
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