MALE, Feb 20:
Pakistan today assured India that it is moving expeditiously with the trial of seven persons accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and an outcome is expected in a “couple of months”.
The assurance came during a 30-minute meeting between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the Pakistani premier for National Security and Foreign Affairs, at which India reiterated its long-standing demand to expedite the trial of those charged for the attacks that left 166 people dead and over 300 injured.
“In response to the demand, the Pakistani leader assured Khurshid that his Government was moving expeditiously with the trial and an outcome was expected in a couple of months,” an official source said here.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of a SAARC Foreign Ministers conference here.
LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum were arrested in the months after the attacks in India’s financial hub in November 2008.
They have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks but their trial has proceeded at a snail’s pace.
India last year handed over five key documents running into nearly 600 pages for use in the trial so that prosecutors could proceed against the accused. The documents include a certified copy of the Indian Supreme Court’s judgement on the case, depositions by two doctors who conducted the autopsy of nine slain terrorists and the Chief Investigating Officer who probed the case.
Various aspects of India-Pakistan ties, including Non- Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) for Indian goods, cross-LoC trade, the visa regime and observations of the Judicial Commission for Prisoners were discussed during the meeting, sources said.
Last month, Pakistan decided to grant NDMA to India in a bid to avoid the fallout of giving Most Favoured Nation-status. It missed a December 2012 deadline to give India MFN-status.
India granted MFN to Pakistan way back in 1996 and has been insisting it should be given the same status to normalise trade ties.
Official sources said Khurshid and Aziz also discussed the issue of visas.
India and Pakistan inked a Bilateral Visa Agreement in 2012 to ease restrictions on senior citizens, businessmen and various other categories of travellers. However, India is awaiting detailed information from Pakistan on the “group tourist visa” category.
The two leaders also discussed observations made by the India-Pakistan Judicial Commission for Prisoners after its members visited various jails in both countries, sources said.
Khurshid and Aziz are also expected to meet at an international conference next month. (PTI)
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