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26/11 case: New notification on panel's India visit submitted

The anti-terrorism court adjourned the case till February 25 after prosecutors submitted the notification.

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A fresh notification regarding a judicial panel's visit to India to interview key officials involved in the 26/11 probe was submitted by prosecutors before a Pakistani court conducting the trial of LeT's Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other accused in the Mumbai attack case.

The anti-terrorism court adjourned the case till February 25 after prosecutors submitted the notification.

Judge Shahid Rafique had asked prosecution lawyers to present a new notification regarding the constitution of the commission after defence lawyers raised several questions about the legality of the panel.

Khwaja Haris Ahmed, counsel for Lakhvi, said the defence lawyers were willing to concede several other issues they had raised regarding the commission and the rights of the accused to cross-examine officials who would depose before the panel in India.

Prosecutors informed the judge that the tentative date for the commission's visit to India was March 12.

Malik Rafique, another defence lawyer, told PTI that three CDs containing documents related to the case were presented in court on the request of the defence lawyers.

The lawyers had said they needed to have access to these documents in case they were referred to during the commission's proposed proceedings in India.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik announced last night that the judicial commission would visit India during March 12-22.

The Indian government had earlier asked Pakistan to send the commission between February 1 and 10.

However, the panel could not go ahead with the visit due to various reasons, including the questions that were raised about its constitution.

Sources told PTI that Indian authorities had not yet formally conveyed fresh dates for the commission's visit to the Pakistani side.

They further said the Indian side would have to study the fresh notification regarding the commission to see whether it was in line with the agreement between the two countries on the working of the panel.

The Pakistani commission is scheduled to interview the magistrate who recorded the confession of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker, the police officer who led the investigation in Mumbai and two doctors who conducted the autopsies of the slain terrorists and victims.

Lakhvi and six other suspects have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks that killed 166 people in November 2008.

However, their trial has stalled over various technical issues for the past year.

Pakistani prosecutors have said the commission's visit to India is necessary to take forward the trial.

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