An Islamist militant accused of multiple killings was released from jail in Pakistan Thursday after a judge granted him bail, saying there was not enough evidence to keep him in custody.

A crowd of supporters greeted Malik Ishaq, a leader of the outlawed Sunni Muslim group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, when he left the prison Thursday after serving 14 years. He told reporters he is not a terrorist.

Ishaq, who was arrested in 1997, was implicated in 44 cases, including terrorist attacks and sectarian attacks targeting minority Shi'ite Muslims. In 2009, he was accused of masterminding, from behind bars, an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in the Pakistani city of Lahore that killed seven people and wounded several players.

But the court convicted him in only two cases, acquitting him in 34 cases and allowing him to leave prison after posting a $22,500 bail.

The Associated Press reports prosecutors had been trying to keep him behind bars while struggling to persuade witnesses to testify, in hopes of proving the other cases against him.