Pak non-committal on 26/11 voice samples
Days ahead of the India-Pakistan home secretary level talks, a sore point has emerged with Pakistan remaining non-committal on providing voice samples of the seven jailed 26/11 terror attack accused in that country.
The Pakistani authorities have told Indian officials that the jailed accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Abu Al Qama among others have refused to provide their voice samples, invoking their rights under self-incrimination clause (not giving evidence against themselves) of the law. “We have taken up the issue a number of times but their response is the same. The matter was taken up recently but their response is not encouraging,” a senior government official said.
Expecting Pakistan to seek update on the Samjhauta Express blast investigation during the bilateral talks beginning in Islamabad on Thursday, the Indian authorities have firmed up their response. The progress in the cross-border train attack has been of keen interest to Pakistan since a significant number of Pakistani nationals lost their lives. Top government sources said India will provide the latest update on the Samjhauta case to Pakistan as a part of the action taken report on matters raised during the last meet held in New Delhi in 2011. The role of Hindu extremists in the cross-border terror strike has been established by the NIA, which has chargesheeted five accused, including Swami Asimanand, in the case.
Government officials here, however, refused to draw a parallel between the Samjhauta strike and the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack where the role of ‘’state actors’’ has emerged.
The 12-member Indian delegation, consisting of the chiefs of NIA, CBI and IB will press Pakistan to act against LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and also identify the key 26/11 masterminds Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali, identified by LeT operative David Headley, as officers of the Pakistani Army in his confession to NIA and the US FBI.
“Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali could be the alias, we want Pakistan’s help to identity of these persons,” an official said.
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