Pakistani sleuths testify against LeT man in Mumbai case

Officials of Pakistan's main investigation agency have presented evidence in an anti- terrorism court of financial transactions done by one of the seven suspects charged with planning and financing the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Three officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented a detailed report on financial transactions by Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Younus Anjum, who was arrested in Lahore in 2009.

The officials told the court yesterday that funds involved in the transactions done by Anjum were used for terrorist activities, sources told PTI. Details of the evidence and the total amount involved in the transactions were not immediately available.

After hearing the testimony of the FIA officials, the court adjourned the case till March 5.LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Anjum have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks that killed 166 people in November 2008.They are being held in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where the trial is also being conducted behind closed doors for security reasons.

The trial has progressed at a very slow pace, becoming an irritant in India-Pakistan ties. India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to speed up the prosecution of the suspects.

Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the premier on National Security and Foreign Affairs, had assured External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid earlier this month that there had been forward movement in the case and a verdict was likely in a couple of months.

Pakistan has acknowledged that the conspiracy behind the attacks was hatched on its soil.

India last year handed over key documents for use in the trial in Pakistan so that prosecutors can proceed against the accused.

The documents include a certified copy of the Indian Supreme Court's judgement in the Mumbai case, depositions by two doctors who conducted the autopsy of nine slain terrorists and the chief investigating officer who probed the case, and summons to witnesses.