Pakistani judicial commission visits India over terror trial

The Pakistani Judicial Commission is expected to visit Mumbai pending an approval from the Bombay High Court ahead of the cross-examination of four witnesses in the 26/11 terror attack case.

The 2008 attacks in Mumbai, conducted by Islamist terrorists, left 164 dead and wounded at least 308 other people.

A Christmas day meeting between an Indian delegation and Pakistani officials in Islamabad led to an agreement for the visit, the second of its kind to take place over the case.

Pakistani authorities assured the Indian team that findings made by the second judicial commission would not be rejected by the anti-terror court, which has been conducting the trial of seven members of the terrorist Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group.

Permission was not granted to the panel to conduct the cross-examination of the four witnesses during its first visit to India in March 2012, leading to its findings over the case to be rejected by the anti terrorism court in Rawalpindi.

The witnesses include two doctors from state-run hospitals, the metropolitan magistrate R V Sawant Waghule and investigating officer Ramesh Mahale.

Following the visit and cross-examination, an Indian judicial commission is expected to be granted access to Pakistani suspects when it makes its subsequent visit to Islamabad.