The visit of a Pakistani judicial commission to India for the second time to cross examine four witnesses in the 26/11 attacks case continues to remain uncertain with Islamabad’s failure to fix dates for the tour.
Though Islamabad has not given any reason for the delay in the commission’s visit, sources said hanging of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) terrorist Ajmal Kasab and recent skirmishes along the LoC, during which an Indian solider was beheaded, might be reasons for the delay.
“We have conveyed to Pakistan long ago about our willingness to host the Pakistani judicial panel. But so far there is no information from them on when the panel will come,” a senior Indian home ministry official said.
The agreement on the visit of the second Pakistani judicial commission to Mumbai was finalised on 25th December, 2012, in Islamabad, following several rounds of discussions on complex technical and legal issues between a four-member visiting Indian delegation and Pakistani officials.
The Home Ministry also got approval from the Bombay High Court for the visit of the Pakistani panel and cross-examination of the four witnesses of the Mumbai attacks case.
The witnesses are metropolitan magistrate Rama Vijay Sawant-Waghule, who recorded the confessional statement of Kasab, chief investigating officer Ramesh Mahale and two doctors from the state-run Nair and JJ Hospitals who had conducted autopsies of nine terrorists.
The cross examination of the four witnesses is necessary to tow the ongoing 26/11 case in a Rawalpindi court to its logical conclusion.
Seven terrorists, including LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, were charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks that killed 166 people in Mumbai in November 2008.
During its visit, the Indian team had secured assurance from Pakistani authorities that the findings of the second judicial commission would not be summarily rejected by the anti-terrorism court that is conducting the trial of seven men.
