Pakistan

Mumbai attack case: FIA told to contact Indian High Commission for summoning witnesses

ATC adjourns case till July 20, directs FIA director general to contact Indian High commission and summon witnesses

Our Correspondent July 13, 2016

The boat is still awaiting a decision on whether it will be taken to the ATC or if a commission would examine the witness who saw it being seized at the Karachi shipyard where it is currently berthed. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to contact the India High Commission in Islamabad to summon all 24 Indian witnesses in the Mumbai attack case.

ATC-II Judge Sohail Ikram directed the FIA director general to approach the Indian High Commission and discuss how to go about summoning the Indian witnesses and submit a report in the next hearing.

Mumbai attack case: FIA petition goes back to the boat that rocked the region

FIA Inspector Wasiq Saeed had appeared before the court.

At least 166 people were killed when gunmen attacked landmarks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, triggering a three-day fire fight.

Earlier, Pakistan had asked India to allow all the witnesses in the case to appear before the ATC in an effort to conclude the ongoing trial. The government had contacted the Indian government, asking it to send the witnesses to Pakistan to testify against the seven suspects including the alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

Lakhvi and the other suspects – Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum – have been under trial in the ATC since 2009.

Lakhvi was granted bail in December 2014 and was subsequently released from Adiala Jail on April 10, 2015 after the Lahore High Court set aside the government’s order to detain him under Maintenance of Public Order rules.

Mumbai attack: Court dismisses govt pleas for revival of cases

Apart from issues with the production of witnesses, the case is still pending because the Islamabad High Court had sought case records after the FIA filed petition seeking examination of a boat, “Al-Fouz”, which was allegedly used by the Mumbai attackers to get to Indian waters.

The boat is still awaiting a decision on whether it will be taken to the ATC or if a commission would examine the witness who saw it being seized at the Karachi shipyard where it is currently berthed.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.