Mumbai Attack Case : Pak Court Summons 7 Witness For Next Hearing

20 may, Rawalpindi

Pakistani anti-terrorism court holding the trial of the seven Mumbai attack accused, including mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Wednesday summoned seven witnesses for the next hearing after the case record was finally submitted to it. The court held the hearing at Adiala Jail , Rawalpindi.

The proceedings could start only after Islamabad High Court (IHC) finally sent back the record of the Mumbai attack case to the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), which is also based in Islamabad. This happened after over four months when it was told that the case was stuck since the record was lying with the IHC. Virtually no proceedings of the case had been held since the trial court granted bail to him on December 14, 2014.

During today’s hearing, the Inspector General Police, Islamabad also submitted a reply to the court regarding the alleged security threats to Lakhvi. The Mumbai attack mastermind has claimed that he is facing serious threats to his life, and should hence be exempted from personal appearance in court during the case hearings.

The LeT operations commander was released from Adiala Jail over a month ago after the Lahore High Court suspended his detention under a security act. Subsequently, the Islamabad High Court had given a two-month deadline to the trial court to conclude the case while disposing off the government’s plea challenging the bail to Lakhvi.

Fifty-five-year-old Lakhvi is living at an undisclosed location since his release. Lakhvi and six other accused – Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal,Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum – have been charged with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that killed 166 people.