British-born militant Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh was handed a death sentence by an anti-terrorism court in July 2002 for masterminding the crime, while his three accomplices Shaikh Adil, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib were jailed for life. The convicts challenged the verdict and filed an appeal in the high court the same month. The government also appealed to the court asking for enhancement of their convictions. But the high-profile case had remained pending since then mostly because of the absence of defence lawyers, especially those living in other cities for personal or official reasons among others. The delay is common in Pakistan's overworked and crowded courts.Raja Qureshi, one of the prosecutors, said the responsibility for the postponement of the appeal hearing in the past was that of the defence lawyers. "The prosecution had appealed to the court to raise the other three men's life sentences to the death penalty." Abdul Waheed Katpar, one of the defence lawyers, said sometimes the high court's agenda was so full that it hardly had time to take up all the cases earmarked for the day. "But finally formal proceedings started today," he said. "The court heard the charge-sheet against the convicts and the arguments of the defence. I have challenged a few of the prosecutors' witnesses and evidences," he said. "Our stand is that the evidences presented in the anti-terrorism [lower] court were not strong enough." The next hearing of the case is on March 2.