[Dawn] RAWALPINDI - An anti-terrorism court here on Wednesday allowed transfer of record and court documents related to Mumbai attack case to the presiding officer of the judicial commission in Mumbai which has been formed to record the statements of Indian prosecution witnesses.The ATC Judge, Shahid Rafique also assigned a court clerk the task to look after the court record during the proceeding of the commission and bring them back.
Senior prosecutor of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, who had filed a petition for temporary transfer of the record to the Mumbai commission, told Dawn that the government of Pakistain has completed all the necessary requirements for the commission and now the ball was in the Indian government`s court. He said the Pak authorities had also requested the Indian government to notify the date on which the commission would start its proceedings.
The 10-member Pak panel will comprise defence counsel Khwaja Sultan, Asam bin Haris, Fakhar Hayat, Riaz Cheema and Ihsan Satti who will represent the suspects -- Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Saddiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum. Besides, FIA additional director Azad Khan, special prosecutors Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, Azhar Chaudhry, a bigwig of the foreign ministry, and court clerk Hameed Afzal are also included in the panel.
The defence counsel would cross-examine Indian woman magistrate R.V. Sawant Waghule who had recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the surviving alleged terrorist, and Ramesh Mahale, the investigation officer, besides two doctors who carried out post-mortem on the bodies of the faceless myrmidons killed during the attacks.
After recording statements of the witnesses, the commission would hand over these to the Pak prosecution agency (FIA) for further proceedings in the ATC.
According to FIA prosecutors, Kasab in his confessional statements recorded before the magistrate had admitted the involvement of the seven suspects who are under trial in Adiala Jail. The four Indian witnesses are also the prosecution witnesses of the FIA. Initially, they were asked to appear before the ATC in Rawalpindi but due to law and order situation in Pakistain the Indian government refused to send them to Rawalpindi.
As a result, the FIA requested the ATC to allow a judicial commission to visit India and record their statements. The ATC has already delegated its judicial power to the Indian magistrate for recording of the witnesses` statements.