Thaindian News

Islamabad, Feb 13 (IANS) The hearing of Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi for his alleged involvement in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks was adjourned in a Pakistani court Saturday because the judge was absent.
There was no proceeding held in the high security special court in Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison because judge Malik Mohammed Akram Awan was busy in the Supreme Court, said Lakhvi’s lawyer Shahbaz Rajput.

Lakhvi and co-accused Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjumv — all Lashkar operatives — are in the Rawalpindi prison and the trial is being conducted there for security reasons.

The hearing has now been scheduled next Saturday.

Pakistani investigators earlier this month filed evidence against Lakhvi and his six associates for their alleged role in masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed.

The accused were last year charged with planning and helping to execute the Mumbai assault, which had put in freeze the peace process between India and Pakistan.

The foreign secretaries of the two countries are now scheduled to meet in New Delhi Feb 25 and resume the stalled talks process.

New Delhi has expressed its dissatisfaction over the Pakistani investigation in the 26/11 attacks. Indian investigators believe that Laskhkar chief Haafiz Saeed was among the masterminds and should be prosecuted.

However, Pakistan has maintained that it does not have sufficient evidence to arrest Saeed. This is despite Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram repeatedly saying that enough proof indicting Saeed has been given to Pakistan in the form of dossiers.