NEW DELHI, July 12:
Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit today cautioned against drawing “premature conclusions” on the statement by its prosecutor that the Government will not file a fresh petition seeking voice sample of LeT operations commander and Mumbai attack mastermind Zaki-ur- Rehman Lakhvi.
Basit said this while stressing that the two sides have not yet met to discuss the ways and means to expedite the Mumbai attack trial in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi as agreed in the joint statement issued on Friday after the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the Russian city of Ufa.
“I would once again recommend to you to read the joint statement which clearly says that both sides will discuss ways and means to expedite the trial.
Both the States have not met to to discuss the ways and means. So let us wait and not draw premature conclusions,” Basit said when asked by reporters about Pakistan’s U-turn on the issue of providing voice sample of Lakhvi after Sharif gave a commitment in this regard to Modi.
Basit was speaking at an Iftar reception hosted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here.
“The issue of obtaining voice sample of Lakhvi has been over. We had filed an application in the trial court in 2011, seeking voice sample of Lakhvi but the judge (Malik Akram Awan) had dismissed it on the ground that no such law exists that allows obtaining of voice sample of an accused,” Pakistan Prosecution team’s chief Chaudhry Azhar said in Lahore.
“The Government will not file a fresh petition in the trial court requesting for obtaining voice sample of Lakhvi,” he added.
Congress leader Manish Tewari took a dig at the Modi Government over the statement by the Pakistan prosecution.
“The entire basis of the Indo-Pakistan joint statement has been demolished even before the ink has dried on it. These statements are nothing but platitude,” he said, and asked what the Government of India is going to do now on the issue of getting Lakhvi’s voice sample. (PTI)
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