Prime Minister Narendra Modi today in Parliament said that India has "strongly conveyed" to Pakistan its opposition to bail for Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lashkar-e-Taiba commander who plotted the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai in 2008. Modi said India was shocked at this move and had expressed its concerns to Pakistan.

"India is not less saddened than Pakistan by what happened in Peshawar. We condemn the incident and are concerned about what happened. There are tears in the eyes of every Indian and every Indian child," said Prime Minister Modi in Lok Sabha. "But the grant of bail (to Lakhvi) after such a heinous incident is traumatising for every Indian."

"An appropriate message has been sent to Pakistan. We have, in the strictest words, conveyed our concerns to them," said Modi. He also said that "the External Affairs Minister (Sushma Swaraj) will give a statement on this issue on Monday."

Sushma Swaraj also made a short statement on the issue. "By giving bail to Lakhvi, Pakistan has made a joke out of its promise to fight terrorism," she said. "We demand that Pakistan immediately revoke this decision."

This is the first statement the Prime Minister has made on the bail given to Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who is the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and one of the masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks which took the lives of 166 people in November, 2008.

On the other hand, Pakistan government ordered the detention of Lakhvi for three more months. "Lakhvi was to be freed from Adiala Jail Rawalpindi today morning but the government detained him there for three months under the 16 MPO," Prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar told PTI, adding the Pakistan government had also informed India about this.

Lakhvi was granted bail by an anti-terror court in Pakistan on Thursday, a day after a terror attack on the Peshawar army public school killed over 140 people, mostly children. The Pakistan government on Friday said that 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was to remain in jail.

India had earlier on Friday conveyed to Pakistan its "strong concern" on grant of bail to Lakhvi, saying the release will make a mockery of Pakistan's commitment to fight terror groups without hesitation and without making distinctions.

"Despite repeated assurances that have been received, we have seen both the prosecution of the seven accused in the Anti-Terror Court in Islamabad, as also the investigation by the authorities into the larger conspiracy surrounding the Mumbai attack case, proceeding at a glacial pace.

The story of repeated postponements, adjournments and unavailability of concerned law officers or witnesses is well documented and does not require repetition. The move to grant bail to Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi yesterday has taken this saga to another level," official spokesman in the External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin said.

"We cannot accept that LeT's chief operation commander Zakiur Lakhvi, one of the key conspirators of the Mumbai terror attacks in which so many innocent people were slaughtered, a person designated as an international terrorist by the UNSC, is being released on bail," Akbaruddin had also said on Thursday.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also said at a press conference, "It is very unfortunate, and we believe it should not have happened" and added that the evidence provided by India to Pakistan was "more than enough to nail him". He said the Pakistan government should appeal in a higher court and get the bail cancelled.

Lakhvi is among the seven Pakistani nationals accused of planning and abetting the brazen terror attack in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 that left 166 dead, including foreigners. He is also the co-founder of LeT.

A day after Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif said his government was committed to fighting terrorism, 26/11 accused Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was granted bail by a Pakistan anti-terror court on Thursday.

(With inputs from PTI)

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