An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Islamabad on Tuesday ordered that a judicial commission would visit Karachi to inspect a boat which was allegedly used in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
An ATC Judge heard the Mumbai attack case and accepted a request filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to inspect the boat ‘Alfoz ‘ in Karachi. The FIA had requested the court to send a judicial commission to examine the boat as it was difficult to produce it before the court.
In addition to examining the boat, the commission would also record the statement of a witness, Munir, during its visit to Karachi.
Earlier, ATC-II judge had allowed the FIA’s application requesting the court to exhibit a boat as evidence as it was allegedly used for transporting the assailants to the open seas of Pakistan and India and ultimately led to the attack in Mumbai.
The court adjourned the hearing of the case till September 28.
The court’s decision to inspect the boat in Karachi comes days after India wrote a letter to Pakistan, suggesting legal ways, to expedite trial of the Mumbai terror attacks case.
India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup on September 15 said that Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had written to his Pakistani counterpart to speed up the trial, which is pending for almost eight years.
In the letter, Jaishankar suggested several ways which Pakistan could use to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice, including cooperation through legal channels.
Over 166 people were killed and over 300 wounded when gunmen attacked landmarks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, triggering three days of gunfights.
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