RAWALPINDI:
An anti-terrorism court hearing the Mumbai attacks case was informed by the accused on Saturday that their lawyers were unwilling to travel to India to record statements of Indian prosecution witnesses before a judicial commission.
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 terrorist attacks in India’s financial capital, and six other men who are in custody, submitted a written application to Special Judge ATC-I Shahid Rafique, stating that their lawyers were not ready to go to India.
The judge put off the hearing till December 10 and directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to respond to the applications filed by the accused.
Accused Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid, along with Lakhvi, informed the trial court that owing to security and financial concerns, none of their lawyers were ready to represent them before the judicial commission in Mumbai.
The accused further told the court that their lawyers were only willing to defend them in Pakistan, adding that following the murder of Ajmal Kasab’s legal counsel, the availability of another lawyer was doubtful.
Advocate Khawaja Sultan Ahmed, representing Lakhvi, told The Express Tribune that the arrested men had expressed fears that the Indian authorities were demanding capital punishment for them and that they did not expect any justice from the Indian judiciary.
The accused also informed the court that they did not have enough money to hire lawyers to defend them in India.
However, Special Public Prosecutor for the FIA Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told the court that all expenses of lawyers from both sides will be covered by the federal government, and therefore, saying that it was unaffordable was just an excuse.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2011.
COMMENTS (10)
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Why would you cooperate in an investigation when you know that if you obstruct the investigation Pakistan will protect you. It's time for India to wake up and smell the roses - Pakistan isn't going to cooperate in an investigation that will likely further paint them as a sponsor of terrorism.
All those people who are humans before you were Pakistanis kindly go through the below in youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg4ySsjtUZM
@Nasir:
Have some guts.. The persons are in Pakistan roaming free on streets spreading hatred and conducting camps inviting children to these camps on false pretext of 'education trips'! and your lawyers state 'security and financial reasons' to come to India to punish these terrorists.
When indian media broke the news that these people were pakistanis and being guided by the pakistani intelligence with proof from the Indian intelligence, the Pakistani media was all busy flaking the Indian media for irresponsible reporting! Where are all those 'ghairath mand reporters'? Are they reporters in the first place?
There is a difference between nationalism and reporting and sensationalism for the sake of TRPs. Have some guts and speak the truth..
Nasir : I agree there is no need for the Pakistani accused like Naqvi or his lawyers to go to India and prove their "innocense". Where is the need when we all know they are guilty. And to talk about Pakistani courts, pl bring the Judge back who ran off to Saudi, lock stock and barrel, after delivering the judgement against a terrorist ie Qadri recently.
Due to the delicate circumstances of the case, the accused - members of the Laskar-e-Toiba, who staged the Mumbai attacks in 2008 should be tried in a third country, so that due process and impartiality can be fully guaranteed. Take the Lockerbie bomber, the Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi as an example. The crime was committed in Scotland. He was tried in a special court set up in Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.
@Nasir: Given the abysmal conviction record of Pakistani courts, the Indian establishment is justified in viewing such developments with skepticism. Pak courts overturn hard work done even by your investigating agencies, and so are unlikely to be more charitable to ours. Your point on Indian lawyers does not really make sense because (a) this is a criminal case to be tried in a State vs Criminal set-up - unless you really want Indians representing the Pak justice system; and (b) a comprehensive dossier of all available info (including sat phone transcripts which the Americans provided as well as Ajmal Kasab's own testimony) has already been shared with Pak authorities and no new value-add can be provided from India. At the end of the day, it is primarily a PR issue - no Pak court/ Govt can survive sentencing people accused of waging war against India (your judges can't even sentence Mumtaz Qadri in peace), so this will end up nowhere if the entire process continues to be held in Pak.
@Indians, Have some guts.. The persons are in Pakistan and also facing trial in Pakistan. There is no reason for them to go to India and proof their innocence. It is Indian lawyers that should appear before Pakistani court with evidence of their involvement.
"they did not expect any justice from the Indian judiciary"
Hmmm. India keeps that one murderer who killed so many in cold blood sp that he be given a fair trial and this is what we hear from the people in the law in Pakistan. What do Pakistanis expect us to do? Give tribal justice? The one practiced by Taliban, hanging and shooting people in open air before every one? Do you people have some thing called law and morality?
"owing to security and financial concerns" - Well the actual reason should be that the defense lawyers know before hand that the case is finished even before it has started in Pakistan due thanks to the dossier given by the Govt. of India. If at all they come here, they will be compelled not to defend those accused because the other accused then will be the Hafeez Saeed and company who are politically powerful owing entirely to their anti-India and pro-radical pseudo-Islamic ideology that the ordinary Pakistani has been foxed into to believe as the 'words of allah' which if brought to light will shake the very belief Pakistan was built on and push it into further hell..
And please don't tell me that the Pakistani Govt. dose not have enough money to send few people to India.. We can lend them that too if they want it...
Could ET provide source for this sentence ??
"The accused further told the court that their lawyers were only willing to defend them in Pakistan, adding that following the murder of Ajmal Kasab’s legal counsel, the availability of another lawyer was doubtful."