Feature
26/11 mastermind Lakhvi back in detention
Islamabad: A day after the detention orders of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, an alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, were declared void by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the home ministry of Pakistan’s Punjab province reordered his detention on Saturday.
Earlier media reports said the Pakistan government had ordered his detention.
IHC’s Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi on Friday accepted Lakhvi’s appeal filed against his third time detention order and ordered his immediate release.
Lakhvi had been granted bail in both cases against him, including the 2008 Mumbai attack case and the six-year-old case pertaining to the kidnapping of an Afghan national, Dawn reported.
IHC’s decision drew a sharp reaction from New Delhi and the Indian external affairs ministry summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and sought an explanation over Lakhvi’s release.
Commenting on the IHC order to release Lakhvi, India’s home ministry said in a statement, “It is the responsibility of the Pakistan government to take all legal measures to ensure that Lakhvi does not come out of jail.”
Washington also responded to IHC’s order by saying that Pakistan had promised the US to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice and it hoped that it would do so.
Lakhvi is accused of being the mastermind of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people.
The Pakistani government took Lakhvi and other suspects into custody in February 2009 for ‘facilitating’ the attacks.
The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had also registered a first information report (FIR) against Lakhvi and six other alleged abettors in 2009.
In August 2009, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was appointed special prosecutor in the case. Later, Advocate Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry was also appointed senior prosecutor.
After the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar on May 3, 2013, the FIA handed over the job to Abuzar Hasnain Pirzada.
India and some other countries took strong exception to the granting of bail to Lakhvi by an anti-terrorism court, only a couple of days after the December 16 terrorist attacks on the Army Public School, Peshawar.
This forced the government to detain Lakhvi under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
The IHC on December 29 suspended the detention order, but the Supreme Court on January 7 restored Lakhvi’s detention and asked the IHC to decide the matter after hearing the federal government.
The prosecution in the Mumbai attacks case has also filed a petition seeking the cancellation of Lakhvi’s bail.
In the petition, the FIA’s special prosecutor claimed, “The fact remained that being the prosecution in such cases has been the most difficult job in our country for the last many years.”
The petition further states, “Even in this case, the prosecutors have been receiving threats on their cellphones during the proceedings which were duly conveyed to the concerned authorities. The witnesses are also not protected and were reluctant to depose against the accused persons in the given situation.”
The government, in the meantime, had registered another FIR against Lakhvi on December 29 in a six-year-old case of the kidnapping of an Afghan national.
Lakhvi through his lawyer had filed petitions for his acquittal in the kidnapping case and for setting aside his detention order.
In-camera hearing of the petition filed by Lakhvi against his detention under the MPO was held initially, during which the Pakistan government submitted some “classified documents” before the court.
The court then resumed hearing in the open court.
On March 2, the IHC directed the Pakistan government not to register any new case against Lakhvi without informing the court.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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