The attacks in Mumbai, which left 165 people dead, damaged peace efforts between India and Pakistan. The bailing of Mr Lakhvi came a day after Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif vowed to end terrorism in Pakistan. Mr Sharif’s comments followed the deadliest ever attack by the Taliban in Pakistan in which 141 people, mostly children, were killed at a school in Peshawar. Correspondents said the decision to allow Mr Lakhvi bail was embarrassing for the Pakistani authorities, who are under pressure to bring suspects in the case to justice. A Pakistani government prosecutor said Friday that he would be submitting an appeal to the high court in Pakistan’s capital. “I am completing all the legal formalities and then I will challenge this order in Islamabad on Monday,” prosecutor Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry told reporters.

Despite yesterday’s court ruling, Mr Lakhvi remains in a high security prison in Rawalpindi. The ruling drew swift condemnation from India. Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, said that despite repeated assurances, the case against the suspects was moving at a “glacial pace”. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and his co-accused were arrested in 2008 and had filed bail applications on 10 December. Mr Lakhvi is accused of heading the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, who the attacks in Mumbai were blamed on. It remains unclear on what grounds the court ordered Mr Lakhvi’s bail. According to his lawyer, Mr Lakhvi was told to pay surety bonds worth 1m rupees (£6,400) before being released. The lawyer, Raja Rizwan Abbasi, told reporters that bail had been granted because the evidence against Mr Lakhvi was “deficient”.