FILE: 26/11 attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi (Press Trust of India photo)
A court in Pakistan today set a two-month deadline for the trial in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks to conclude.
The Islamabad High Court told an anti-terror court that if the case was delayed further, it would accept the Pakistan government's petition to cancel bail granted to terror mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
The case against Lakhvi and six others has been on since 2009.
Lakhvi, 55, was released on Saturday after a court called his detention illegal. India called it a "serious setback, deeply disappointing."
But Pakistan blamed India for "inordinate delay" in extending cooperation in the Mumbai attack trial, saying it complicated Lakhvi's case and weakened the prosecution, leading to his release.
Lakhvi, the military chief of the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was arrested in Pakistan in 2009, months after 166 people were killed by 10 gunmen who attacked the city for three days.
He was first granted bail in December, but was kept in prison by the Pakistan government under a public security act after a scathing reaction from India.
Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged in Pakistan for planning and executing the Mumbai attacks, but their cases have made virtually no progress in all these years, inciting repeated protests from India.
Delhi accuses Islamabad of prevaricating over the trials, and says it has submitted enough evidence to prove that Lakhvi is responsible for its worst-ever terror attack.