An antiterrorism court in Islamabad has granted bail to a man accused of masterminding the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.
The court on December 18 directed Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi to pay surety bonds worth about $5,000 before his release on bail.
The decision comes just 48 hours after Pakistani Taliban massacred 141 people at an army-run school in the city of Peshawar, promoting pledges from the government to launch a crackdown on terrorists.
Lakhvi, thought to have been the operational chief of the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, is one of seven people charged with planning and helping to carry out the Mumbai attacks.
The 60-hour siege on India's economic capital left 166 people dead and was blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba
The six others facing trial are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid.