Pak court to rule on prosecution's plea next week

Islamabad (PTI) - An anti-terrorism court in
Pakistan conducting the trial of Lashkar-e-Toiba's Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects in the Mumbai attack case
on Saturday said it would give its ruling next week on an
application challenging the contention of the defence that
Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari cannot be re-tried in Pakistan.
Pakistani prosecutors had filed the application during
the last hearing of the Mumbai attacks case on April 16.
Anti-terrorism court Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed said during
today's proceedings at the heavily-guarded Adiala Jail in
Rawalpindi that he would give his ruling on the
maintainability of the application at the next hearing on
April 30.
"The prosecution and defence lawyers presented their
arguments on the matter today. The judge said he would rule on
the maintainability of the application at the next hearing,"
Shahbaz Rajput, one of the defence lawyers, told PTI after the
hearing held behind closed doors for security reasons.
The prosecution's application contended that defence
lawyers could not present an argument regarding Kasab and
Ansari as they did not represent the two men, sources said.
The defence lawyers recently filed an application seeking
the start of trial proceedings as soon as possible and
recording of evidence against the accused.
The application was filed under Section 403 of the Code
of Criminal Procedure and Article 13 of the Constitution,
which state that no person can be prosecuted or punished for
the same offence more than once.
The defence lawyers' application was apparently aimed
at stymieing the prosecution's efforts to gain access to
Kasab, the lone surviving attacker involved in the Mumbai
incident, and terror suspect Ansari.
Kasab was convicted and sentenced to death by an
Indian court. The same court acquitted Ansari, but he
continues to be in custody in connection with other cases.
The seven Pakistani suspects, including Lakhvi, have been
charged with planning, facilitating and financing the attacks
that killed 166 people.
The trial has been marred by repeated delays over
technical matters.
The judge has been changed thrice and only one of more
than 160 prosecution witnesses has testified so far.