Saturday, July 25, 2009
By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Saturday adjourned for over a month a case against five Islamist militants accused of involvement in last year's attack on Mumbai, in a move likely to anger India.
India wants forceful action by Pakistan to bring to justice leaders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group it says were behind the November 26-29 attacks that killed 166 people, before resuming a peace process that was frozen in the aftermath of the violence.
The government's prosecutor, Malik Rab Nawaz Noon, said formal charges against the accused had not yet been framed and Saturday's proceedings ended after statements were recorded.
A member of the prosecution team and a defense lawyer said the court was adjourned until August 29, and officials said the court had accepted a request by the Federal Investigation Agency that the hearing be held behind closed doors.
The media and public have been barred from hearings at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, the garrison town near Islamabad, and lawyers from both sides have divulged little during pre-trial proceedings.
However, one defense lawyer, Shahbaz Rajput, told Reuters after the hearing that the court had not yet decided on whether to holding the proceedings behind closed doors.
"The court heard the two sides about holding in-camera proceedings of the case," Rajput said, adding that the five defendants all appeared before the court on Saturday.
In Mumbai earlier this week, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the only one of 10 Pakistani gunmen captured alive, pleaded guilty and asked to be hanged.
Having sent a dossier to New Delhi earlier this month, Pakistan has said it is waiting for more information from India to support its prosecution case. Indian officials say all relevant information has been passed on.
Security concerns were given as the reason for holding the trial inside the jail, though critics say the secrecy suggests Pakistani intelligence agencies do not want their relationships with militants to be aired in public.
The suspects on trial at Adiala include Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, and four others: Hammad Amin, Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al Qama and Shahid Jameel Riaz.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik earlier this month released photographs of the men, along with 13 other suspects who have not yet been detained.
(Additional reporting and writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; editing by Andrew Roche)
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