Pak court asks govt to respond on Lakhvi trial transfer

Lahore, Sept 19 (PTI) A Pakistani court on Monday asked
the federal government to respond by October 17 to a petition
seeking the transfer of trial proceedings against LeT
commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the
2008 Mumbai attacks, from Rawalpindi to Lahore.
In his order, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed
Chaudhry also sought a report from an anti-terrorism court in
Rawalpindi on progress in contempt of court proceedings
against Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
The anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi is currently
conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including
Lashkar-e-Taiba's Lakhvi, who have been charged with planning,
financing and facilitating the attacks in November 2008 that
killed 166 people.
Khwaja Sultan, the counsel for Lakhvi, alleged in the
High Court that the trial of his client was not being
conducted fairly and the anti-terrorism court was being
influenced by the government.
He cited alleged security concerns as one of the reasons
for the request to transfer the trial from Rawalpindi to
Lahore.
Sultan contended: "The trial court is not working
independently and the Pakistan government is already under
pressure from India."
He said a contempt of court application had been moved
against Interior Minister Malik for his reported remarks that
a judicial commission would visit India to interview key
persons even before the anti-terrorism court had granted
permission for setting up the commission.
The defence lawyer further contended that the Federal
Investigation Agency had filed an application for sending the
judicial commission to India and had completed its arguments
on the issue in the anti-terrorism court.
However, the defence lawyers were yet to make their
arguments, Sultan claimed.
He further alleged that the statements made by Interior
Minister Malik amounted to contempt of court as the
anti-terrorism court had imposed a ban on disclosing matters
related to its in-camera proceedings to the media.
Sultan said the anti-terrorism court had dropped the
contempt proceedings against Malik merely on the basis of a
clarification given by a government lawyer that the Interior
Minister had great respect for courts.
No proceedings have been held in the anti-terrorism court
for the past two weeks due to the non-availability of a judge
to hear the case.
The petition filed by Lakhvi in the Lahore High court is
expected to further delay proceedings in the anti-terrorism
court.