In apparent effort to speed up the trial of the accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, India has hinted at offering Islamabad a chance to cross examine witnesses by a Pakistani judicial commission set up for investigation into the incident. Indian Home Secretary RK Singh said New Delhi might consider such a request from Islamabad as it wanted conviction of those who responsible for the terror attacks.
The news comes after Islamabad told New Delhi that recently obtained evidence of the Mumbai attacks was inadmissible in court because Pakistanis were not allowed to cross-examine Indian officials, a lawyer said Wednesday. Pakistan’s Interior Ministry wrote formally to the Indian government after a court rejected the evidence in July on the basis that the Pakistanis could not question Indian officials, prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar said.
The letter is likely to aggravate New Delhi, which has branded Pakistan’s attempts at prosecuting seven alleged conspirators a “facade” and has insisted it has already handed over enough evidence to convict the accused. Seven suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, have been charged with planning, financing and executing the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people in November 2008. Their trial in Pakistan has been hit by delays and the judge has been changed five times. “We have requested our High Commissioner in Pakistan to approach the government there and ask them how they want to proceed. If they send us a communication, we will look at that communication. “Once we get to know as to how they want to proceed, we will consult our legal team what is feasible and what is not. We want these people to be brought to justice,” he told reporters here.
