ID :
138440
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 07:07
Auther :

Pak yet to decide on India`s proposal on video-conference

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Aug 19 (PTI) Pakistan has not yet decided
on India's proposal to allow two of its officials to testify
before a Pakistani court through video-conferencing in
connection with the 2008 Mumbai attacks case.
"That is still under consideration and no decision has
yet been made," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in
response to a specific question at the weekly news briefing.
India recently turned down Pakistan's request to send
a magistrate and police official who recorded the confessional
statement of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai attacker,
to testify in the anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of
the seven suspects, including Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi.
Instead, India said the magistrate and the police
official could depose before the court via video-conferencing.
Basit also noted that India's Solicitor General had
reportedly said that the "Indian legal system does not bar
Indian officials from testifying before a foreign court".
"So we are in the process of finalising this."
During a recent hearing in the trial of the seven
Pakistani suspects, prosecutors filed an application asking
the anti-terrorism court to allow the Indian magistrate and
police official to depose via video-conferencing.
The court is expected to decide on the application
during the next hearing on August 28.
Basit made it clear that Pakistan had never sought the
deposition of the Indian officials via video-conferencing.
"We had requested India for the deposition of the two
officers before a Pakistani court. And then the proposal came
of video-conferencing...and that is under consideration," he
said.
The trial of the seven Pakistani suspects, charged
with planning and facilitating the Mumbai attacks that killed
166 people, has been marred by procedural delays and
controversy.
Only two out of over 150 prosecution witnesses have
testified so far.
The Pakistani prosecution's case is largely based on
the confessional statement of Kasab, who has already been
convicted and sentenced to death by a special court in Mumbai.
PTI

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