India may respond to Pak this week on commission issue

New Delhi, Nov 29 (PTI) India is likely to respond
within this week to Pakistan's proposal to send a commission
here to interview key witnesses in connection with the trial
of seven Pakistani suspects in 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks
case.
Sources said Pakistan will be informed of India's
stand on the issue once the government gets the view of Bombay
High Court on it.
India, as such, does not have any problem if a
commission from Pakistan comes to take statements of
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R V Sawant Waghule,
Investigating Officer Ramesh Mahale, who recorded 26/11
convict Ajmal Kasab's statement, and the doctors who carried
out the post-mortem of the victims and the terrorists.
But sources said it is mandatory to take the view of
the high court as the case related to 26/11 is now pending
before it.
Last week, on the eve of the second anniversary of the
Mumbai terror attacks, India asked Pakistan to punish those
responsible, accusing it of not fulfilling its assurances in
this regard.
India said "substantive and verifiable" progress has
not been made in the probe into Mumbai terror attacks cases in
Pakistan.
Asking Islamabad to fulfil its "obligation and
commitment" to bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11
carnage, India regretted that no feedback has been received on
several issues raised by New Delhi.
This included voice samples of Pakistan-based
"handlers" of the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai on
November 26, 2008, information on the names of seven persons
involved in the attacks given by Home Minister P Chidambaram
during his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart in June in
Islamabad.
The names of seven "handlers" involved in the 26/11
included that of two officers in the Pakistani Army, sources
said.
However, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik
said on Saturday that the trial of seven Pakistani suspects
charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks has been
held up because of New Delhi's delay in granting permission
for a commission to visit India to interview key witnesses.