Pakistan judicial body arrives in Mumbai court to examine 26/11 witnesses

A judicial commission from Pakistan arrived at a court here on Tuesday to cross-examine the witnesses of the November 26 to 29, 2008 terror attack on major city landmarks that claimed 166 lives.

An eight-member Pakistani judicial commission team came to India through the Wagah border post in Punjab on September 21. The witnesses include the magistrate who recorded the confessional statement of captured Pakistani militant Ajmal Kasab, the chief investigating officer and two doctors who conducted autopsy on the bodies of the other militants involved in the attack in 2008.

The commission arrived for the second time as its report submitted after the first visit in March 2012 was rejected by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan as the panel members were not allowed to cross-examine the eye-witnesses. The anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks had declared as illegal the findings of the commission on the ground that it was not allowed to cross examine the witnesses.

Following the development, a delegation of India's Interior Ministry that also included special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had visited Pakistan to sort out the matter with the authorities there. Eventually, India had agreed to allow the panel to cross examine the witnesses to speed up the much-delayed trial in the case in Pakistan. The trial in India has already concluded and the lone surviving 26/11 militant Ajmal Kasab was hanged. The members see this visit not only to strengthen the bond but also to discuss other projects, which were delayed since long.

On November 26, 2008, Ajmal Amir Kasab and nine other heavily-armed gunmen, who arrived in India by sea, attacked various places, including the Taj Mahal Hotel, Nariman House, Oberoi Hotel and Mumbai CST railway station, killing 166 people and injuring several others.