Mumbai attack case: Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua appears before ATC

Janjua informs Justice Shahrukh Arjumand that a progress in the case will be made soon

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant for witness Nazar Sharif after his continuous failure to appear before the court to record evidence in the Mumbai attacks case.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua appeared before the ATC of Justice Shahrukh Arjumand in connection with the attacks in India’s financial capital on November 26, 2008 in which at least 166 people were killed by gunmen.



Earlier, the ATC directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit a detailed report about summoning 27 Indian witnesses before the court.

Janjua told the ATC that the foreign ministers of both the countries would be meeting soon and the court would be subsequently informed about the developments. She said that two meetings had already been held.

During the hearing, patwari Abdul Samad, the government land record keeper in Khairpur and Thatta, appeared before the ATC and recorded his testimony. He informed the court that land records of two Mumbai attacks accused, Riaz and Asaduallah, were once available in Sindh’s Ali Nawaz Shah village. But they were burnt beyond usability in the riots that erupted in the wake of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2008, he added.

The court then issued non-bailable warrants for Nazar Sharif who is currently living in the United States and adjourned the case till December 2, 2017.

Earlier, Pakistan asked India to allow all the witnesses in the case to appear before the ATC so that the trial could be concluded.



The Pakistan government contacted India, asking it to send witnesses to Pakistan to testify against the seven suspects in the case, including the alleged mastermind, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

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

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