India Wednesday said there was no indication from Pakistan on sending its judicial commission here to take the statement of the magistrate, who had recorded the confession of Ajmal Kasab, to pursue the 26/11 attacks case. “There is no indication from Pakistan if and when their team is visiting India. The situation stands where it stood a few weeks ago,” Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here according to PTI.
During the Home Secretary-level talks here in March, India had agreed to host Pakistan’s judicial commission to take statements of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R V Sawant Waghule, Investigating Officer Ramesh Mahale and the doctor who carried out the post-mortem of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008. Islamabad has been maintaining that it is necessary to send the commission to India as part of the judicial process of the 26/11 case in Pakistan and promised at the home secretary-level talks that they would do so by May 15. The Indian government has already conveyed to the Bombay High Court that Sawant and Mahale should be available for questioning by the Pakistani commission.
The commission wants to interview the Indian officials in connection with the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, currently in a jail in that country, in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case.
India has already provided to Pakistan copies of Kasab’s statement that was recorded in Hindi and Marathi in the presence of Waghule. An English version is also available with Pakistan.
