5 LeT men's trial over 26/11 adjourned till Aug 29

Ruling that future proceedings would be held in-camera, a Pakistani court hearing the case against five Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives, including operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, in connection with the Mumbai attack of November 2008, today adjourned it till August 29 without charges being read against the accused.

Judge Baqir Ali Rana of anti-terror court 2, who is conducting the trial in the high-security Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, put off the matter, sources said.

Today's proceedings continued for about an hour and all five accused were produced in the court. Journalists were barred from covering the trial, which is being conducted inside the prison for security reasons.

Sources said counsel for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which probed the Mumbai attacks and arrested the five LeT operatives, argued that the proceedings should be conducted in-camera in view of the sensitivity of the matter.

This was accepted by the judge, who said future hearings would not be open to the public.

The counsel for the five LeT operatives submitted petitions seeking copies of the first information reports (FIRs) and the two charge sheets drawn up against them by the FIA, the sources said.

The court said they should be given access to these documents and materials. It also recorded the statements of officials who were assigned to hand over notices issued to 13 other suspects identified by the FIA. These suspects have been declared "proclaimed offenders".

A majority of the suspects are members of the crew of the two boats that ferried the attackers to Mumbai.

Special public prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Noon, who represented the government, told reporters that the five LeT men were yet to be formally indicted.

Shahbaz Rajput and Sardar Tariq Masud, the lawyers representing the five LeT operatives, told the Press Trust of India that the judge had adjourned the matter till August 29 after hearing arguments by both sides.

Rajput said the court failed to read the charges against the accused and that the defence side is still waiting for a list of charges and supporting evidence.

While Lakhvi is accused of masterminding the attack, the other four — LeT communications expert Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq, and Shahid Jamil Riaz — are being charged as facilitators, managers of funds, and locators of hideouts for the attackers.

Rajput said the hearing was "pre-trial proceedings", saying the accused had not been formally charged yet. The trial of the five men was held up for over a month owing to the non-availability of a judge. It resumed after judge Rana was recently appointed to the anti-terror court 2.