Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned for two weeks the hearing of Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s petition seeking his acquittal in a case related to the Mumbai attacks in order to study Ajmal Kasab’s confessional statement.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry put off the matter for a fortnight after receiving a copy of Kasab’s confessional statement in English from Lakhvi’s counsel Khwaja Sultan.
During a hearing last week, the bench had sought a copy of Kasab’s confessional statement as it was linked to an important case in Pakistan.
On receiving a copy of Kasab’s 11-page statement, Chief Justice Chaudhry said the bench needed time to go through the document.
The Chief Justice also told Mr. Sultan that he should have filed the statement a day ahead of the hearing so that the bench could have studied it.
Mr. Sultan said he had tried to file the statement before the hearing but the concerned officer refused to accept it.
In his confessional statement, Kasab had named Lakhvi as the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.
