The Mastermind of Mayhem in Mumbai: A Profile of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi

Outside the Indian subcontinent not much was known about the most prolific militant commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, until the United States Treasury announced on May 27, 2008 that they had froze the assets of four of the top LeT leaders including Lakhvi. [1] Exactly six months later, Lakhvi’s name entered into terror infamy. With his jihadi network, he had masterminded the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, which sent ripples across the world. 

Zaki-ur-Rahman’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks was confirmed by two sources, which the Pakistani authorities coerced into speaking. The U.S. born LeT operative David Coleman Headley has also identified Lakhvi as the leader of the military wing of LeT and mastermind behind the November 2008 attacks which killed more than 150 individuals. At his trial, the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab, told the Indian court about Zaki-ur-Rahman’s involvement. (India Today, July 20, 2009). 

Pakistani officials ordered its security forces to move against Lashkar-e-Taiba’s hideouts in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan on December 7, 2008. During the raid they captured and arrested Lakhvi and LeT affiliates. However the Pakistani government refused to hand over Zaki-ur-Rahman to India for trial and jailed him as well as his affiliates in the high-security Adila jail, located in Rawalpindi for a Pakistan-based trial. 

For complete paper, Read Here (Subscription).