SC dismisses Lakhvi’s 26/11 acquittal plea

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The Pakistan Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi seeking acquittal in the Mumbai attacks case.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry rejected Lakhvi’s petition saying it was premature to give any decision on the issue.
Lakhvi is one of the prime accused in the Mumbai attacks case in which 166 people were killed.
The Pakistan Supreme Court, this week, upheld the Lahore high court’s decision to allow freedom to Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, believed to be the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack.
Lakhvi had moved the Supreme Court seeking an order to stop the prosecution and the trial court from using Ajmal Kasab’s “retracted” confessional statement as evidence against him.
Khawaja Sultan Ahmed, Lakhvi’s counsel argued that the testimony of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, holds no value in a Pakistani court.
Lakhvi had pointed out in his petition that he was nominated as an accused by Indian authorities “through diplomatic channel” on the basis of which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a case.
Lakhvi is being tried with six other accused in a special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.
Kasab, convicted in India, claimed that Lakhvi trained him.
The petition argued that three interim challans have been submitted against Lakhvi and not one has been backed with proof. Neither have the witnesses been able to prove Kasab’s claim that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi trained the Mumbai attackers.