Pak Court Adjourns Hearing In 26/11 Mumbai Attack Case Till April 1

25 March, Islamabad

For the third consecutive time, a Pakistani court Wednesday adjourned the hearing in the trial of seven men accused in the Mumbai terror attack case till April 1st.

Prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar said that the proceedings of the case could not be held today as the record of the case is with the Islamabad High Court in connection with the government’s plea against granting bail to the attack’s mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

Over the past two months, at least five hearings have been adjourned without proceedings because of this reason. The trial has been underway in Pakistan since 2009.

The Islamabad High Court will take up government’s plea for cancellation of bail to LeT operations commander Lakhvi tomorrow ,Thursday.

The Punjab government on March 14th detained Lakhvi for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order, before he could be released by Adiala Jail Rawalpindi authorities on the Islamabad High Court’s order.

Lakhvi, believed to be a close relative of LeT founder and Jamat-Ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, and six others were charged with planning and executing the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008 that left 166 people dead. Lakhvi is currently in detention in Pakistan under a public security order.

He was detained before he could be released from jail following a court directive, which evoked a strong protest from India.