No judges in Pakistan to hear 26/11 case

Mixed signals are emanating from Pakistan over the 26/11 Mumbai terror trials.

On Saturday, the government of Pakistan filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Lahore High Court order to release Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the banned Jamaat-ud-Daawa, from house arrest.

At the same time, however, an anti-terror court in Pakistan adjourned hearings in the case against five Lashkar-e-Taiba men who were picked up by the authorities in connection with the Mumbai terror strikes. The hearing has been adjourned till July 18. The reason: there are no judges available to hear the case against Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Shahid Jamil Riaz, and Hamad Amin Sadiq.

The fact that the Pakistan government cannot find a judge to take up a crucial case like this signals the nonchalant attitude that Islamabad often exhibits in trials against people wanted by India. The Punjab government's action against Saeed comes days ahead of the proposed meeting between India's foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon and his counterpart, Salman Bashir, in Egypt on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Summit starting on July 11.