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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistan again adjourns Mumbai attack hearing |
| 2009-10-04 |
| [Dawn] A Pakistani court on Saturday adjourned for a second time a hearing for seven suspects accused by India of plotting the deadly Mumbai attacks last year, a lawyer said. New Delhi has been pressuring Islamabad to speed up the probe of Pakistani militants believed to be behind the Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people. India and Washington blamed the November attacks on Pakistan's banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the siege stalled a fragile four-year peace process between the two countries. 'The hearing has been adjourned until the 10th of October,' said Shahbaz Rajput, a defence lawyer representing two of the suspects. Because the proceedings at an anti-terrorism court are going on behind closed doors, Rajput said he could not disclose the reason for the second postponement, or give any details of the case. The seven accused were present at Saturday's proceedings, he added. The hearing had originally been scheduled to begin on July 25, but was postponed then as the judge was on leave. The anti-terrorism court has been set up in the high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining the capital, Islamabad. Interior Minister Rehman Malik in July said that the seven men would soon be charged over the 60-hour rampage but called on India to provide more information to bring the perpetrators to justice. Those in custody include the alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and alleged key LeT operative Zarar Shah. India has put on trial Pakistan's Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai attacks and who has made a dramatic confession. India insists it will resume talks to normalise ties only after Pakistan brings to justice the alleged perpetrators and has blamed Pakistani 'official agencies' for abetting the assault - a claim Islamabad flatly denies. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York late last month, foreign ministers from both nations met to discuss the impasse. India's SM Krishna said investigations into the Mumbai plot must 'gather further momentum.' His counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi assured Krishna that the seven men would be tried, but urged dialogue on all bilateral issues. |
| Posted by:Fred |