Pakistan seeks fresh schedule for 26/11 Commission's visit

Pakistan has sought a fresh schedule for the visit of a judicial commission of that country, which will record statements of key persons involved in the 26/11 Mumbai attack probe, after having failed to keep its earlier dates.

Islamabad has informed India that the 26/11 commission would like to visit anytime after February 13. However, India will revert to Pakistan only after consulting the Bombay High Court which will suggest fresh dates, official sources said.

After a long dilly-dally, the Pakistani judicial commission was supposed to come in the first week of February but it was cancelled at the eleventh hour.

The commission will record the statement of Ramesh Mahale, the 26/11 case investigating officer and RV Sawant-Waghul, the magistrate who recorded the confessional statement of lone surviving Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

The statements of two doctors, who had conducted the post-mortem of the nine slain terrorists involved in the attack along with Kasab, will also be recorded by it.

The visit of the commission has been pending for close to two years and it has been delayed due to one reason or the other, putting the ongoing trial in the 26/11 case in Pakistan into uncertainty.

The trial in the Rawalpindi court also has been going on at a snail's pace and Indian officials are not very optimistic that the guilty will be punished any time soon. Curiously, four judges have been changed ever since the trial began in Pakistan in early 2009. Shahid Rafique is the fifth judge hearing the case.

Pakistan has already issued a gazette notification on the formation of the judicial commission and has listed the names of the members who will represent Pakistan government.

The delegation that was supposed to come includes Khalid Qureshi, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency's Special Investigation Group, Muhammad Azhar Chaudhry and Chaudhry Zulifqar -- the two main prosecutors.

Five counsel of seven Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks had told the anti-terrorism court that they were prepared to go to India.

The commission was announced by Pakistan in response to a directive from the anti-terrorism court that is conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, who have been charged with planning and financing the attacks in 2008 that killed 166 people.

The five lawyers include Lakhvi's counsel Khwaja Sultan, Riaz Cheema, Asam bin Haris and Fakhar-e-Hayat.

During the home secretary-level talks in New Delhi in March last year, India had agreed to the Pakistani proposal to host the judicial commission of that country as Islamabad maintained that it was necessary to send the panel to India as part of the judicial process in Pakistan.

Pakistan's contention is that the charges against seven LeT operatives, including Lakhvi, lodged in a jail there, were based on Kasab's statement in Mumbai and, hence, it was necessary to submit the magistrate's and the IO's statements to the anti-terror court.