Sharif assures action on 26/11

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Sunday assured India of “action” on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case in the wake of a Pakistani judicial commission having visited India.

In his talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly here, Sharif said that it is Pakistan’s intention to “bring to book the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks”.

Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, briefing reporters on the meeting, said Sharif told Manmohan Singh there would be “action on the Mumbai attack cases now that the judicial commission has been in India and gathered depositions”.

In a separate briefing, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani said the Mumbai issue had got slowed down “because of the delayed judicial commission”. “They (judicial commission) have returned and they will file the report,” he said.

An eight-member Pakistani judicial commission, headed by Chaudhry Muhammed Azhar, had visited India after initial delays, from Sep 21 to 26, to cross-examine witnesses in connection with the ongoing trial of seven suspects including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi in a Pakistani court.

The commission cross-examined two witnesses, a doctor who carried out the post mortems of the nine terrorists who were killed in the attack and Ramesh Mahale, the investigating officer of the case.

The 10 Pakistani terrorists had sneaked into south Mumbai by Arabian Sea route and targeted various prominent locations there. The attack left 166 dead. Nine of the attackers were killed, while the sole surviving gunman, Ajmal Kasab, was captured alive.

After a trial, Kasab was sentenced to death and hanged in Yerawada Central Jail in November 2012.

India has consistently demanded tangible action from Pakistan to bring to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack.

IANS