Pakistan on Friday informed India that its Judicial Commission, to interview certain important persons connected with the 26/11 terror attack case probe, would visit here soon.
Pakistani High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik who met Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram conveyed to him that Islamabad would be soon sending the Judicial Commission to carry forward the process of bringing the conspirators of 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai to justice.
"I came to inform the Minister that the Government of Pakistan will be sending the Judicial Commission to carry the process forward and I have mentioned that to the Minister. We will formally be informing the Indian government shortly,’’ he told journalists outside the North Block office of the Home Ministry after the meeting. He added that dates of the proposed visit of the Judicial Commission were yet to be finalised.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Judicial Commission from Pakistan is to take the statements of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.V. Sawant Waghule and Investigating Officer Ramesh Mahale, who have recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the 26/11 attacks, to pursue the case there. It also wants to take the statement of the doctor who carried out the post mortem of the terrorists killed during the attack.
"The Government of India has been informed. The Home Minister has been informed by me that we will be sending a Commission. Now it is the Indian government to give us certain details,’’ the Pakistan High Commissioner said without disclosing further details.
During the Home Secretary-level talks in March, India agreed to a Pakistani proposal to host a Judicial Commission of that country.
ADVERTISEMENT
Asked how soon the Commission will visit India, Mr. Malik said: "I cannot put a date to it. Now the process has started. So, I am sure it will take place soon. At the moment, I have come to inform the Home Minister that we have decided to send a Commission.’’
Pakistan had confirmed to India in July that it would soon send a Judicial Commission to pursue the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik had conveyed this to Mr. Chidambaram when they met on the sidelines of the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers meeting in July in Thimphu.
Pakistan has contended that the charges against the seven LeT operatives, including its 'operation commander' Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, lodged in a jail there, were based on Kasab's statement in Mumbai and hence the magistrate and the IO's statements were necessary to submit before the anti-terror court in that country.
India has often expressed disappointment over the snail’s pace at which the trial in Pakistani court has been going on.