JOIN USPak court nails 26/11 attack suspects
The court also declared 16 people, including Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist, as “proclaimed offenders”.
The crew members of the two boats that ferried the 10 attackers to Mumbai are among them, sources said.
Anti-terrorism court Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan, who is conducting the trial at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security reasons, framed the charge sheet against Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum.
The court also rejected the bail pleas of some of the accused. The suspects protested as charges against them under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Pakistan Penal Code were read out, sources said. All the seven pleaded not guilty, their lawyers said.
The charge sheets came after an agonising spell of delays with India accusing Pakistan of not being serious in bringing to book the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks.
Shahbaz Rajput, one of the defence lawyers, said the accused had pleaded not guilty as the charges against them were not backed up by evidence.
Lakhvi and the six other suspects were charged with providing accommodation and training facilities to the attackers as they prepared for the assault, the sources said.
Kasab and nine others reached Mumbai through sea route on November 26, 2008, and targeted several places, including the Taj Mahal Hotel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, killing 166 people, including foreigners.
The accused were also charged with arranging transportation, including boats, and communication equipment, including mobile phone sets and internet-based communication gear, for the terrorists, the sources said. The court scheduled the next hearing of the case for December 5. During the last hearing of the case on Monday, the defence lawyers had contended that Kasab should be brought to Pakistan to face the trial with the other accused.
They said since Kasab is the lone surviving attacker and his confession to Indian authorities formed a crucial part of the case built by Pakistani authorities against their clients, he should be brought to Pakistan to face the trial.
Reporters are barred from covering the in-camera proceedings of the anti-terror court and there was no official word on Wednesday’s proceedings.