Islamabad: The trial of seven Pakistani
suspects, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi,
charged with involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks was on Tuesday adjourned till April 17 as the chief prosecutor was
unavailable.
Judge Shahid Rafique, who is hearing the case, put off
the hearing for a week due to the absence of the public
prosecutor representing the Federal Investigation Agency,
officials said.
There were no hearings in the case for the past two weeks
as the judge was unwell.
The same prosecutor is representing the FIA in the trial
of seven persons charged with involvement in the 2007
assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto and that case
too was adjourned till April 17.
The anti-terrorism court, which is conducting proceedings
behind closed doors at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security
reasons, is unlikely to move forward in the Mumbai attacks
case till it receives a report on a Pakistani judicial
commission`s interviews with Indian officials and witnesses in
Mumbai.
The eight-member judicial commission, which included
prosecutors and defence lawyers, returned from a visit to
India last month.
The panel travelled to Mumbai, where it recorded the
statements of the magistrate who recorded the confession of
Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker, the police officer
who led the investigation into the attacks and two doctors who
conducted the autopsies of the terrorists and victims.
The seven suspects, including Lakhvi, have been charged
with planning, financing and executing the terror attacks in
Mumbai that killed 166 people in November 2008.
The trial of the suspects has stalled due to various
technical issues for the past year.
PTI
