Islamabad: Pakistani anti-terrorism court trying seven Mumbai terror attack accused, including LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, on Wednesday again adjourned the hearing till September 16 as no witnesses turned up. The 26/11 Mumbai case hearing was held at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi after a month as the judge of Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad had gone on a summer vacation on August 6.
"None of the four witnesses summoned for today's hearing to record their statement turned up in the court. Following this, the judge adjourned the hearing till September 16 and summoned more witnesses for next Wednesday," a court official said.
No proceedings were held in the last three hearings before August 6 due to different reasons. The Islamabad High Court had set a two-month deadline (till June 15) for the trial to conclude the case but it has failed to do so.
The trial court had fixed two days a week (Wednesday and Thursday) to expedite the case but it also not strictly following this schedule. Fifty-five-year-old Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack, has already been exempted from in-person appearance in the trial court because of "threats" to his life.
Lakhvi secured bail last December and was subsequently released from the Adiala Jail on April 10 after the Lahore High Court set aside the government's order to detain him under the security act.
Six other accused,Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum have been in Adiala Jail for nearly six years in connection with planning and executing the Mumbai attack in November, 2008 that left 166 people killed.
