ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan commission will soon proceed to India to interview and record statements of witnesses and officials related to the Mumbai attacks as New Delhi has accepted Islamabad’s request in principle in this regard.
“We have received information from New Delhi through diplomatic channels that India has in principle accepted Pakistan’s request for sending a commission there for the recording of statements of key witnesses and officials there looking into the Mumbai attacks, which occurred back in November 2008,” a diplomat said on Sunday.
“We are now waiting for a final word from India on the vital issue of commission’s visit to India and we are happy that they (Indians) are willing to receive the team from Islamabad that will facilitate the ongoing investigations into Mumbai attacks within Pakistan,” he said.
He said a request in this regard was conveyed to India during a telephonic conversation between Interior Minister Rehman Malik and his Indian counterpart, P Chidambaram recently.
Indian media reports earlier also suggested that India was inclined to allow visit by a Pakistani team to take statements of key witnesses and other officials, who recorded the statement of the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, and also the doctors who carried out the postmortem of victims and terrorists.
The official said the Pakistani authorities were now in the process of preparations for the important visit of the commission to India that would also like to go and examine the site of horrendous acts of terror in the Indian financial hub.
Asked about the likely interview of Kasab by the Pakistani panel, he said, “It is yet to be seen whether India allows the team to meet Kasab or not and also to carry out a visit to the site of terrorist attacks.”
“However, we expect that the Indians would fully facilitate the visit of our team on their soil so that the trip could turn out into something useful and not merely a waste of time,” the official said.
