India has given a written assurance to Pakistan to let its judicial commission to cross-examine witnesses in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has obtained a written consent from the Bombay High Court to let the Pakistani judicial commission cross-examine the witnesses that would strengthen the cases against the seven Pakistani accused being tried before a Rawalpindi court.
“We have sent the High Court’s communication and the statements of the four witnesses [in the Mumbai attacks case] to Pakistan for submission before a Rawalpindi court… We are now awaiting Islamabad’s communication as to when the Pakistani judicial commission will visit India,” a senior MHA officer told journalists here.
It would be the commission’s second visit to Mumbai. India has been pressing for an early conclusion of the trial.
The trial has been going on in a special court in Rawalpindi against the seven alleged terrorists — including Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi — who have been charged with planning, financing and executing the Mumbai attacks in November 2008.
Notably, the first Pakistani judicial commission’s report was rejected by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan after it noted that it had not cross-examined the Indian witnesses.
The Pakistan commission will be examining metropolitan magistrate Rama Vijay Sawant-Waghule, who recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, chief investigating officer Ramesh Mahale, and two doctors from the state-run Nair and J.J. Hospitals who had conducted autopsies of nine Pakistani terrorists who carried out the attack at various locations.
