Pakistan dismisses Washington’s statement it ‘go further’ to convict LeT leader

Pakistani police officers escort Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, center, the main suspect of the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, after a court appearance in Islamabad, Pakistan. (File/AP)

• A Lahore Anti-Terrorism court on Friday sentenced Lakhvi to five years imprisonment
• On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said India was backing Daesh to spread instability in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday hit out at the United States after the State Department said in a tweet that Islamabad needed to go further to hold Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi accountable for his crimes, and said the US should ‘reserve its concerns’ for the financing and execution of militant activities by India.
A Lahore Anti-Terrorism (ATC) on Friday sentenced Lakhvi to five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs300,000 in a terrorism financing case. He is blamed by the United States and India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was first arrested in 2008 but was later released on bail.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office rejoinder on Twitter came in response to a statement issued by the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs after the Lakhvi’s conviction. 
The FO stated that Pakistan was “fully abiding by its own statutes and fulfilment of its international obligations.”
“The State Department is encouraged to reserve its concern for the active aiding, abetting, planning, promoting, financing & execution of terrorist activities by India for which sufficient irrefutable evidence has already been provided,” it added in a tweet.
On Sunday, during a televised conversation with social media influencers, Prime Minister Imran Khan said India was backing Daesh to spread instability in Pakistan, when asked about a Daesh-claimed attack on a Shia minority community in southwestern Balochistan province.
“We are encouraged by the recent conviction of Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi,” the US State Department said in its tweet on Sunday.
“However his crimes go far beyond financing terrorism. Pakistan should further hold him accountable for his involvement in terror attacks, including the Mumbai attacks,” the tweet said.
A day earlier, India had questioned the timing of the action against Lakhvi which the FO had rejected as a ‘malicious’ statement linking Pakistan’s due legal process with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) review.
India has long called on Pakistan to bring Lakhvi to trial, but Islamabad says Delhi has not provided concrete evidence to try the LeT leader.
A UN Security Council sanctions committee says Lakhvi is LeT’s chief of operations and accuses him of being involved in militant activity in a number of other regions and countries.