On the fifth anniversary of the Mumbai attacks on Tuesday, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde asked Pakistan to act on all the evidence that India had provided on those behind the terror attacks, which saw 166 people losing their lives, and bring them to justice.
“We have handed over all the relevant proof to Pakistan. We are urging them to take quick and urgent action against the perpetrators of the attack. We have also allowed the Pakistani judicial commission to examine key witnesses in the case…Pakistan should punish all those involved in the case,” Mr. Shinde told journalists here.
In Pakistan, a case had been registered against key Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and trial was on in a special court in Rawalpindi. These persons, including Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum, were arrested in Pakistan in 2009 and charged with planning, financing and executing the 26/11 strike. Significantly, Pakistan had not taken any action on India’s demand to arrest LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, who is said to be the main person behind 26/11.
Referring to the Pakistani judicial commission’s second visit to Mumbai, Mr. Shinde said India had cooperated in the legal process and hoped that trial would be expedited.
After the first report of the commission was rejected by the Pakistani court on the pretext that it was not allowed to cross-examine the witnesses, India again facilitated the commission’s visit and allowed it to record statements of all key witnesses.
The Home Minister also noted with concern that Pakistan had failed to dismantle the terror infrastructure in its territory and deal sternly with the growing infiltration bid by terrorists from across the border into Jammu and Kashmir. This year, over 200 such attempts were made.
