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
