Pak mum on panel,India worried over 26/11 trial

No response on queries; India fears Lakhvi trial will be delayed

A week before a Pakistan court conducts the next hearing into the trial of Lashkar-e-Toiba commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six others for their alleged involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack,there are concerns within the Indian government over the fact that Pakistan has still not responded to clarifications sought by India about Islamabads proposal to send a Judicial Commission to India to examine key officials involved in the trial of Ajmal Kasab.

India is worried that not getting a clear sense about this Judicial Commission will only delay the trial further.

Pakistan had proposed to send a Judicial Commission to India to verify the statements of the Magistrate and the Chief Investigating Officer who recorded the statement of Kasab the lone surviving 26/11 gunman and also the para-medical staff who performed the post mortem of the dead bodies. This had followed Indias refusal to send these officials to Pakistan to depose in the anti-terror court there.

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New Delhi had further sought a confirmation from the Pakistan side that the Commission would only record the statements of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R V Sawant Waghule and Investigating Officer Ramesh Mahale and that no cross-examination would take place.

During the last hearing of the case on October 16,Judge Malik Muhammad Akram was reported to have shown dissatisfaction over the prosecutions assertion that Pakistan would get permission from India to send the Judicial Commission. The prosecution had asked for four weeks to process the formalities to send the Commission,following which the judge had fixed November 13 as the next date of hearing.

While India has shown willingness to accommodate the Commission,it has made it clear that all clarifications must be first responded to.