Rawalpindi: Suspects in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case received training at various centres of the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant organisation, including navigational training in Karachi, intelligence officials have informed an anti-terrorism court (ATC).
According to The Dawn, five inspectors of the Crime Investigation Department, who are prosecution witnesses in the case, informed the court about the training details and capabilities of suspects Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum.
The officials said the suspects were trained at the LeT training centres at Yousaf Goth in Karachi, Buttle in Mansehra, Mirpur Sakro in Thatta and Muzaffarabad. Lakhvi, who is believed to be the alleged mastermind of the attacks, was LeT's 'operational commander' who trained other militants. Lakhvi went to Kunar and participated in Afghan jihad against the Soviet forces, according to the statement.
Lakhvi, a resident of Okara district, was an expert in using firearms and improvised explosive devices. He also remained 'commander' of LeT in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), according to the statement.
Khwaja Mohammad Haris, counsel for Lakhvi, said that if the statements were true then it showed negligence on the part of witnesses because being responsible officials they did not take any step for closing the training camps.
"If they knew that Lakhvi or other suspects were involved in suspicious activities then why they did not put their names in the Fourth Schedule to limit their movement. The prosecution has fabricated a false story against the suspects and the statements of the five witnesses are part of that story," Haris said.
ANI
First Published: Sunday, November 11, 2012, 15:27