The Hindu : Front Page : 26/11 trial held up in Pakistan

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Sunday, Jun 07, 2009
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26/11 trial held up in Pakistan

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: An apparent delay in appointing a judge is holding up proceedings in Pakistan against five suspects in the Mumbai terror attack, including two top operatives of the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency is, meanwhile, looking for a sixth man who is alleged to have provided the boat in which the 10 terrorists who carried out the November 2008 attack set sail from the Pakistan coast.

On Friday, the FIA obtained an arrest warrant for the suspect, identified as Muhammad Khan of Turbat in Balochistan.

But a scheduled hearing on Saturday against the five suspects already in custody registered no movement except for an adjournment and the posting of the case to June 20 by a substitute judge.

The case against LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the group’s communications specialist Zarar Shah and three others is being heard at the designated Anti-Terror Court 2 at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

But ATC 2 is without a judge after the government ended the contract of Sakhi Mohammed Kahut, who was earlier hearing the case, amid a large-scale reshuffle in the ranks of district judges.

Khadim Hussain was named the new judge for ATC 2 and was to take over at the end of May, but court officials told journalists his appointment was cancelled.

As a result, Judge Malik Akram Awan of ATC 1 held Saturday’s proceedings in ATC 2, but only to post the case to June 20.

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