Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Chief Malik Ishaq freed

By Rizwan Khatik - Sat Jan 21, 5:56 am

LAHORE:A Pakistani judicial review board on Friday ended the house arrest of Malik Ishaq, the head of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who was detained last year after his group was blamed for a string of attacks on the minority Shia community.

The day a review board denied Punjab government an extension to the detention of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) founder, a first information report (FIR) was lodged against him in the Khanpur blast case.

The FIR names six people responsible for the attack on a Chehlum procession in Khanpur on January 14, which killed at least 18 and injured several others.

According to SHO Jam Manzoor Ahmed, the FIR, lodged on Friday under the Anti-Terrorism Act, names Ishaq, his son Malik Usman, and his associates Ghulam Quraishi, Shafiq Dahir, Malik Yaqub and Ghulam Rasool Shah.

All those named in the FIR are from LeJ, the SHO said, adding that a joint investigation team comprising officials from police and counter-terrorism department will investigate the case.

Sources in the intelligence agencies said that this is the second instance where Ishaq and his associate Rasool planned an attack while they were imprisoned, the first being the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.