Islamabad: A fresh notification regarding a
judicial panel`s visit to India to interview key officials
involved in the 26/11 probe was submitted by prosecutors
before a Pakistani court conducting the trial of LeT`s Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other accused in the Mumbai attack case.
The anti-terrorism court adjourned the case till February
25 after prosecutors submitted the notification.
Judge Shahid Rafique had asked prosecution lawyers to
present a new notification regarding the constitution of the
commission after defence lawyers raised several questions
about the legality of the panel.
Khwaja Haris Ahmed, counsel for Lakhvi, said the defence
lawyers were willing to concede several other issues they had
raised regarding the commission and the rights of the accused
to cross-examine officials who would depose before the panel
in India.
Prosecutors informed the judge that the tentative date
for the commission`s visit to India was March 12.
Malik Rafique, another defence lawyer, said that
three CDs containing documents related to the case were
presented in court on the request of the defence lawyers.
The lawyers had said they needed to have access to these
documents in case they were referred to during the
commission`s proposed proceedings in India.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced last night that
the judicial commission would visit India during March 12-22.
The Indian government had earlier asked Pakistan to send
the commission between February 1 and 10.
However, the panel could not go ahead with the visit due
to various reasons, including the questions that were raised
about its constitution.
Sources said that Indian authorities had not yet
formally conveyed fresh dates for the commission`s visit to
the Pakistani side.
They further said the Indian side would have to study the
fresh notification regarding the commission to see whether it
was in line with the agreement between the two countries on
the working of the panel.
The Pakistani commission is scheduled to interview the
magistrate who recorded the confession of Ajmal Kasab, the
lone surviving attacker, the police officer who led the
investigation in Mumbai and two doctors who conducted the
autopsies of the slain terrorists and victims.
Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged with
planning, financing and executing the attacks that killed 166
people in November 2008.
However, their trial has stalled over various technical
issues for the past year.
Pakistani prosecutors have said the commission`s visit to
India is necessary to take forward the trial.
PTI
