Pakistan has asked India to allow all 24 witnesses in the Mumbai attack case to appear before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad in an effort to conclude the ongoing trial.
Around 166 people were killed when gunmen attacked landmarks in Mumbai, triggering three days of gunfights on November 26, 2008. New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group for the attack.
Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry recently wrote a letter to his Indian counterpart seeking more information and evidence in an effort to wrap up the trial. On Sunday, the chief prosecutor in the case confirmed the Foreign Office has requested India to send the witnesses to Pakistan for testifying in the case.
“Now the ball is in India’s court,” prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told the Press Trust of India (PTI). “The Indian government should send all Indian witnesses to Pakistan for recording their statements so the trial can move ahead.”
Last month, the ATC, which is trying seven suspects, including the alleged mastermind and LeT operations commander, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to present the Indian witnesses in the court.
The judge also ordered that the boats said to be used by the Mumbai gunmen to travel to India be brought back to Pakistan as case property and duly examined.
An eight-member Pakistani judicial commission had earlier visited India on behalf of the trial court. Statements of the Indian witnesses are to be used as evidence in the trial.
Lakhvi’s lawyer has, however, challenged the commission’s proceedings because chief metropolitan magistrate SS Shinde did not let its members cross-examine the witnesses. Apart from Lakhvi, the other arrested LeT operatives on trial are Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Sadiq, Shahid Jamil, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum. The trial has been ongoing since 2009.
Lakhvi, 55, was granted bail in December 2014 and was subsequently released from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on April 10, 2015, after the Lahore High Court set aside the government’s order to detain him under the Maintenance of Public Order law.
Six more suspects have been interned at the Adiala Jail for over six years now in connection with planning and executing the coordinated attacks in Mumbai.
In December last year, Pakistan had assured India of taking steps to conclude the Mumbai trial at the earliest during a meeting between Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Sawaraj.
Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria has also confirmed the foreign secretary has written a letter to his Indian counterpart regarding more evidence required for concluding the Mumbai trial.
“These are those pieces of evidence, which Pakistan had asked for earlier also,” he said without going into the details.
Nafees said the issue was also discussed during the meeting between Sartaj and Sushma on the sidelines of the Heart of Asia Conference in December. “Additional evidence from India is awaited to conclude the trial,” he maintained.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2016.
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