26/11 case: Pak court puts off hearing of FIA plea till Jul 19

From Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jul 14 (PTI) A Pakistani court conducting the
trial of LeT's Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects
charged with involvement in the 2008 western Indian city
Mumbai attacks Thursday put off till July 19 the hearing of an
application filed by prosecutors to speed up the proceedings
of the case.
Anti-terrorism court judge Shahid Rafique took up the
application filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
this morning but the matter was deferred till the afternoon as
the prosecutors had to appear in another important case,
sources said.
When the hearing resumed in the afternoon, the judge was
forced to put off the matter till July 19 as the defence
lawyers were not present in court, prosecutor Chaudhry
Zulfiqar told PTI.
The next regular hearing of the case against the seven
accused had earlier been scheduled for July 23.
In its application filed earlier this week, the
prosecution asked the judge to take up the case before July
23.
Though no reason was given by officials for the move, it
is believed it was done with an eye to the meeting of the
Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan to be held in New
Delhi in the last week of this month.

Indian officials have repeatedly pressed Pakistan to
speed up the trial of the seven suspects and Islamabad
apparently wanted to send out a message that it was not
dragging its feet on the issue, sources said.
The seven suspects, including several LeT members, have
been accused of planning, facilitating and financing the
November 2008 attacks in India's financial hub that killed 166
people.
The trial has been marred by repeated delays and only one
out of over 160 prosecution witnesses has testified so far.
Shahid Rafique is the fifth judge to hear the case since
proceedings began in early 2009.