Despite the arrest and subsequent indictment of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged commander of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) along with six others in Pakistan in 2008, the case has made little headway as both countries continue to accuse each other of ‘not doing enough’.
Even though the allegations of masterminding, financing and facilitating the November 26, 2008 attacks on landmarks in India’s financial capital which killed 166 people are gravely serious and have been the cause of strain in relations between the two countries, the case has moved at a snail’s pace and remains, half a decade later, at the evidentiary stage.
“Justice demands evidence and this is a case of no evidence,” Advocate Riaz Akram Cheema, a former member of the defence team, told The Express Tribune. Cheema feels the case has “no leg to stand on”, explaining that Lakhvi and the others were framed on the basis of the confessionary statement by Ajmal Kasab, the only gunman arrested, tried and hanged in India for “waging war, terrorism and murder”.
“Kasab’s confessionary statement could never be cross-examined,” he said, touching upon New Delhi’s refusal to allow the defence counsel to question Kasab. “[His statement] cannot be treated as evidence under Pakistani law,” he added. Cheema also questioned the admissibility of Kasab’s statement which, he said, was recorded 82 days after his arrest.
The murkiness worsens as the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) – the prosecutor in this case – is at loggerheads with the defence panel.
The current defence lawyer, Advocate Rizwan Abbasi, blamed the FIA for indulging in delaying tactics, saying the prosecution has failed to provide a complete list of witnesses with recorded statements for cross-examination despite the court’s directions.
“The prosecution has managed to get 17 of the 137 witnesses cross-examined so far,” said Abbasi. “In the meanwhile, my clients have been languishing in jail for five years.”
A special judicial commission that visited India in September this year to cross-examine witnesses and collect other evidence recently submitted a dossier before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC).
FIA special prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar, who headed the seven-member commission, however, is upbeat about the new evidence and feels the case is heading towards ‘a decisive moment’.
“The commission collected ample evidence against the accused. We also recorded the statements of the witnesses that would help the prosecutors in Pakistan,” Azhar said, pointing to meetings with the chief investigation officer of the case as well as the doctors who had conducted autopsies on all 10 militants involved.
Azhar attributed the delays to the change of judges and the death of his colleague Chaudhry Zulfiqar, the special prosecutor who w.
Cheema maintained that evidence collection by the commission from India was inadmissible. “The entire dossier contradicts Section 507 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and does not fulfill the requirements of Article 47,” Cheema said.
“Not a single statement of witnesses was personally recorded by the investigation officer (IO). He possessed only photocopies of the documents,” Cheema said, adding that the IO had not written a single legal document against the accused himself.
He claimed that the CDs provided by Indian authorities are also not originals. “Out of the record of 280 calls they provided as evidence against the co-accused, none was made to or from Kasab,” said the defence lawyer, who was also part of the commission. He is confident that the case will end in a matter of months, as it cannot be dragged on for long.
A day before the anniversary of the deadly attacks, Pakistan’s outgoing High Commissioner to India, Salman Bashir dismissed suggestions that Islamabad was conducting a ‘sham trial’ and assured New Delhi that it was being speeded up.
“The legal system [and] judicial system is more or less the same on both sides. Both need to cooperate more to get this expedited,” he said in an interview with Indian television CNN-IBN on Sunday.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2013.
COMMENTS (19)
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Sounds very much like the 9/11 case in America. Ten years on, and hundreds of thousands of words, but no real evidence.
@KUMAR: Sorry bro..you have to take revenge with your own authorites that orchestrated Mumbai attack
Mumbai attacks was an inside job. The proof is Ajmal Kasabs video released by indian authorities, where he asks hindu god bhagwan for forgiveness. Neither he looked pakistani and neither his accent was native to pakistani Punjab.
The Indians should have let the Pakistanis interrogate him, but obviously they couldnt afford being exposed.
Asking Pakistan to convict terrorist who attack India is a waste of time - they don't bother to convict terrorist who attack their own people. I suggest India grow a set - if these guys had attacked the USA you know they would either be dead or sitting in a USA jail.
We all know it was inside job so no need to beat about the bush, Indians have a history of executing such attacks wihtin their own country and blaming Pakistan for it.
no Indian will ever forgot mumbai attack.....and we shall take revenge
It is a pity that Ajmal Kasab was executed and was never allowed by the indian authorities to be interrogated by the Pakistanis. A man who asks bhagwan (hindu god) for forgiveness CANNOT be a muslim.
And Mr.Nawaz Shariff thinks he can peace with India.
@amit (India): What happened in Bombay was absolutely heinous, much like every attack that happens in Pakistan as a result of non-state actors. Pakistani's want justice and accountability for the attack just as much as they want it for the attacks in Pakistan. No more, no less. So thanks for your sharing your emotion on a Pakistani website, but nobody cares. Harsh, but true.
Mumbai attacks: Five years on, the case has ‘no leg to stand on’ And neither does the peace process between India and Pakistan
Not surprised at all. Very soon it will be published in Pakistan that 26/11 never happened in Mumbai, forget about its conspirator or operator. Nobody can punish self, that is what Pakistan is doing. May god help you & your society.
Naren, Mumbai
The main accused in 26/11 attack being given a clean chit was a foregone conclusion as state machinery was itself involved in this case.
False flag!
We can expect such things from Pakistan.... After all it has rights to protect it's strategical assets....!
I live in Mumbai and the places attacked are places that I and my friends often frequent. We knew people who were trapped in the hotels - someone's friends, someone's relatives. Now watching Pakistan play its usual game of denial is quite disgusting, but then again, its expected.
However, if I look back over the past five years - I see Pakistan suffering for having supported terror in India and elsewhere. The same 'terrorists' or 'strategic assets' or 'non-state actors' are now starting to bite you - and badly. Apart from killings, they have also managed to give Pakistan the distinction of being an epicentre for polio. The US routinely sends drones to kill terrorists - it would have been a violation of sovereignty if you had it in the first place - your government had long back surrendered it to terrorists.
It is like how they say... Karma is a beep
Terrorism is Pakistan's national sport. Its naive on India's part if they are thinking that Pakistan would ever punish anyone for killing 166 innocent lives.
Truth will remain same even after 50 years... Pakistan is safe heaven for Terrorists doesn't matter either its Ajmal Kasab, Hafeez saeed,Osama bin Laden, or Hakim mullah....etc..
Problem is in intention of Pakistan...not in case.