Pakistan has decided to “strongly contest” the law suit filed in a United States court against the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and his predecessor by the relatives of a Jewish rabbi and his wife who were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
In a statement, the Foreign Office on Thursday said: “The Government of Pakistan and the Pakistan Embassy in Washington shall defend the legal suit on behalf of ISI and its Directors-General fully and properly”.
The statement also drew attention to the assurance given by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani in the National Assembly last week when members expressed concerns about the DG ISI being summoned by a U.S. court.
Intervening in the discussion, Mr. Gilani had said: “We do not believe the ISI, as an agency of the government of Pakistan, or its present and former officials could be subjected to civil litigation in the courts of the United States and we intend to take appropriate steps to obtain dismissal of this action.”
Meanwhile, responding to a question on India's request for access to those accused in the ongoing Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said: “We do not see any legal requirement of the Indian proposal to send their judicial commission to Pakistan”.
Seeking to draw a distinction between Pakistan's proposal to send a judicial commission to India and the Indian request, Mr. Basit said: “Our judicial commission is a legal requirement in order to pursue the Mumbai attacks trial in Pakistan.” Maintaining that the two proposals should be considered in different perspectives, he articulated the hope that the visit of the judicial commission of Pakistan is not linked to the Indian proposal “which we are considering according to our domestic laws”.
About the Mumbai trial, the spokesman said Pakistan was committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice. Stating that India's full cooperation was imperative for this, he added that New Delhi should stop using the Mumbai attack and terrorism in general as a propaganda ploy against Pakistan.
“The dialogue process should not be held hostage to the Mumbai attack trial. Only through active cooperation at all levels can we realistically expect to eliminate the menace of terrorism.”
