India gets tough with Pakistan on Mumbai terror attack trials
25 Jul 2014
India summoned Pakistan's deputy high commissioner in Delhi on Thursday to lodge a strong protest against the endless adjournments of the trial in Pakistan of some of those accused in the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai.
The Indian deputy high commissioner in Islamabad meanwhile went to the Pakistan Foreign Office to lodge a similar protest.
India has demanded regular briefings from Pakistan on the progress of the trial and the investigation being conducted by Pakistani authorities.
As many as 166 people were killed and 300 injured in November 2008, when 10 terrorists from Pakistan attacked different parts of Mumbai. The terrorist siege lasted over 70 hours.
The only terrorist caught alive, Ajmal Kasab, was hanged in Pune in 2012.
Pakistan has arrested seven people for the attack, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, a top commander of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. However, the case has made very little progress – unlike the cases against Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, which seems to have been fast-tracked.
The foreign secretaries of the two countries, Sujatha Singh and Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, are scheduled to meet in Islamabad next month for talks.