New Delhi: The visiting members of the
Pakistan Judicial Commission, who recorded the statements of
key witnesses in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case, had no mandate
for cross-examination of anyone following an agreement between
the two countries.
Official sources said the defence counsels of 26/11 case
in Pakistan were fully aware of the fact that they would not
be allowed to cross-examine any of the witnesses but only take
the witnesses' statements as per the mandate of the Pakistan
Judicial Commission, currently in India.
"Their demand in Mumbai for cross-examination was purely
illogical and against the mandate agreed by the governments of
India and Pakistan. The scope of the Judicial Commission has
no mention about cross examination," a government official
said here.
The scope of the Commission was specific as already
agreed to by the governments of India and Pakistan -- to
record statements of the Magistrate who took confessional
statement of Ajmal Kasab, statements of investigating officer
and two doctors who had conducted the post-mortem of the
people who died in 26/11 attack.
This is a follow up to the detailed documentary evidence
(certified copies) already supplied to Pakistan's Federal
Investigation Agency by Government of India and it is expected
that the Commission once executed will further the pace of the
ongoing trials of the 26/11 case in Pakistan.
On Friday, when the head of the visiting Commission and
Pakistan's Special Public Prosecutor Zulfiqar Ali contended at
Mumbai's Esplanade Court that cross-examination was legally
permitted, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam asked him to
inform the court about the arrangement mutually agreed upon
by the two countries.
PTI
First Published: Monday, March 19, 2012, 22:24