The current tensions in India-Pakistan relations may affect the ongoing trial of the 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast case as India is yet to serve summons to 13 Pakistani witnesses.
A special NIA court in Panchkula had on March 17 issued summons to 13 Pakistani witnesses asking them to depose before July 4.
The summons were to be served by the Ministry of External Affairs, but the diplomatic row after the May 1 incident at the Line of Control, when two Indian soldiers were beheaded by Pakistan’s Army, is said to have derailed the process. Pakistan High Commission officials said they had no knowledge about the “summons.”
An NIA official however, said the 13 Pakistani witnesses were “not critical” to the case and the trial was at an advanced stage. The Pakistani witnesses include persons injured in the blast and relatives of those killed.
Former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member Aseemanand is one of the prime accused in the case and the delay in summoning witnesses could delay the verdict.
Out of 299 witnesses, over 250 have been examined and the NIA is expecting a verdict in the case this year.
“As and when the Pakistani witnesses come here, their security would be our responsibility. Earlier there was a plan to construct a makeshift court at the Wagah-Attari border for their convenience, but now we have decided that they depose at the Panchkula court itself,” said an NIA official.
Pakistan’s charge
Pakistan has accused India of weakening the Samjhauta blast case as the NIA did not oppose the bail plea of Aseemanand earlier. He was recently acquitted in the Ajmer Dargah blast case and is out on bail in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case. The NIA is yet to challenge his acquittal.
Pakistan has also asked India to send 24 witnesses to depose before an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack trial. India is yet to act on the request.
