Islamabad: The trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, charged with involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks was on Tuesday adjourned till April 17 as the chief prosecutor was
unavailable.
Judge Shahid Rafique, who is hearing the case, put off the hearing for a week due to the absence of the public prosecutor representing the Federal Investigation Agency, officials said.
There were no hearings in the case for the past two weeks as the judge was unwell.
The same prosecutor is representing the FIA in the trial of seven persons charged with involvement in the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto and that case too was adjourned till April 17.
The anti-terrorism court, which is conducting proceedings behind closed doors at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security reasons, is unlikely to move forward in the Mumbai attacks case till it receives a report on a Pakistani judicial commission's interviews with Indian officials and witnesses in Mumbai.
The eight-member judicial commission, which included prosecutors and defence lawyers, returned from a visit to India last month.
The panel travelled to Mumbai, where it recorded the statements of the magistrate who recorded the confession of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker, the police officer who led the investigation into the attacks and two doctors who conducted the autopsies of the terrorists and victims.
The seven suspects, including Lakhvi, have been charged with planning, financing and executing the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people in November 2008.
The trial of the suspects has stalled due to various technical issues for the past year.
Comments
0 comment