Taj hotel India. PHOTO: FILE
In what appears to be a tit-for-tat move, the Indian government on Tuesday rejected the new date of September 11, proposed by Islamabad for cross-examination of key witnesses by Pakistan’s judicial commission probing the Mumbai attacks case.
The rejection comes after Pakistan called off the September 7 visit of the commission to India at the eleventh hour, citing unavailability of flights.
According to reports in the Indian media, New Delhi cancelled the visit saying that the September 11 date was not suitable due to the unavailability of key witnesses, who would be busy in festivities related to the 10-day long Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi, celebrated in a big way in Mumbai.
Media has reported that the move by Indian authorities comes after they were unhappy with the last minute cancellation of the visit by Islamabad earlier, and the gesture has been seen by the media as a reprisal for the earlier cancellation.
The judicial commission from Pakistan is scheduled to visit India in order to record evidence against seven alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum, Jamil Ahmed, Mazhar Iqbal and Abdul Majid who have been facing trial in an Anti-Terrorism Court since early 2009.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ