Was attack on Sri Lankan team a bid to release Lakhvi? Amir Mir

The Pakistani authorities investigating Tuesdayís bloody attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore are trying to ascertain whether it was an attempt by the Lashkar-e-Taiba militants to hijack the bus carrying the team and to bargain the release of their chief operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who is detained at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and facing a trial for his alleged involvement in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

The Pakistani authorities now investigating the 3/3 terrorist attack say there is growing evidence to suggest that the operation might have been planned by the banned LeT operatives, who actually wanted to take the sportsmen hostage, primarily to demand the release of their arrested commander and five others and their safe passage to the tribal areas, in exchange for the team players. The authorities say the Lashkar militants involved in the Lahore assault might have in their mind the successful hijacking of an Indian passenger aircraft in 2000, which eventually compelled the BJP government in India to release Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad who had been serving term in an Indian jail on terrorism charges.