Indian investigative agency may quiz 26/11 handlers

India may send a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Pakistan to have a look at the evidence gathered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the 26/11 probe and also possibly to question its key handlers who are currently lodged in jail.
The move follows verbal assurance given by Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik to his Indian counterpart Sushilkumar Shinde who raised this demand on the sidelines of Saarc home ministers’ conference at Maldives.
Seeing it as a significant move forward, the Union home ministry has asked the ministry of external affairs to take it up formally with Pakistan and fix up a date soon for NIA’s visit, DNA quoted informed sources in the government as saying.
To the pleasant surprise of Indian delegation, the verbal assurance came from none other than Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik.
Despite getting averbal assurance from the Pakistan’s interior minister, home ministry officials are keeping their fingers crossed as they are doubtful if Pakistan would stand by its commitment or not or just allow it to merely complete a formality and take a moral high ground, the paper said.
“Ideally, besides sharing evidence with our investigation agency, Pakistan should also give it access to question the seven handlers who gave training and instructions to 10 terrorists, including the lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab, accused of killing 166 people in Mumbai and also allow it to speak to key witnesses who have divulged details of their training in camps,” a senior official said.
FIA’s former head Tariq Khosa, who supervised Mumbai terror attacks probe, revealed recently that investigators had found Lashkar-e-Taiba camps at Thatta and Karachi, the capital of Sindh province and the Pakistani boat that was used by the team of 10 terrorists to travel from Karachi to Indian waters.
“These are very important developments and we hope Pakistan would see reason in these to let the probe reach a logical end,” an official said.
Sources said that India would also want Pakistan to allow NIA’s visit before re-sending its judicial commission to cross examine four prosecution witnesses — Ramesh Padmanabh Mahale (chief investigating officer), DCB (CID), Mumbai, Rama Vijay Sawant Wagule, additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Mumbai 3rd court regarding confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, and the two doctors who conducted the post-mortem.
Pakistan’s request for re-sending its judicial commission for cross examination is pending with the law ministry that is expected to take a final view on it by mid October.