Pakistan has finally agreed, in principle, to allow Indian investigators to visit the neighbouring country to examine the evidence collected against arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others in connection with the Mumbai attack case. In a related development, the United States may allow Indian agencies access to LeT terrorist David Headley’s wife Shazia Gilani and his accomplice, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, in connection with the case.
“Pakistan has, in principle, agreed to allow the NIA [National Investigation Agency] team to visit [the] country. We have already sent a formal request through the Ministry of External Affairs… We are awaiting intimation about the dates,” said a senior official at the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday. However, Islamabad has not yet confirmed the date for the NIA team’s visit.
India has been asking Pakistan to allow its investigators to examine the material evidence collected in the 26/11 case probe against Lakhvi and his accomplices. Indian authorities have expressed their frustration over the long delay in the trial against Lakhvi and the others in a Rawalpindi court.
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The NIA wants to know why the Pakistani court was not ready to accept the evidence collected by the eight-member Pakistani judicial commission during its visit to India in March this year. Notably, India has agreed to allow the second visit of the Pakistani commission only after the visit of the NIA team.
Indian authorities are likely to get access to Headley’s U.S.-based wife Shazia, his two girlfriends and Tahawwur Rana, who could make important disclosures and give further leads into the Mumbai attack case.