26/11 defence lawyers press for security cover

Lahore, Feb 17: After one of the 26/11 defence lawyers Shahid Azmi was shot dead recently, other lawyers defending the accused in the Mumbai terror attacks case have raised concern over their own security.

There are seven Pakistani suspects being tried in an anti-terror court for their alleged involvement in the Nov 2008 terror attacks which killed over 200 people in India's financial capital.

The Pakistani lawyers representing the accused have now raised a cry over the lack of protection to their lives despite the court order.

Speaking to a news agency, Khwaja Sultan, counsel for Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, said, "I have asked the concerned authorities whether will they act only when any of us is targeted the way the lawyer of (Indian national Sabahuddin) Ansari, Shahid Azmi, was gunned down in Mumbai."

He revealed that not even a single policeman was appointed to protect the lawyers.

Sultan had managed to legally get the security by filing a application leading the Lahore high court chief justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif to direct the authorities to provide security for all the five lawyers.

"This is a high-profile case and anything can happen to lawyers representing either the accused or the state," he said, adding that he has requested the Lahore high court to shift the case to Lahore primarily for the safety of lawyers as the venue of the trial, Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, was 'highly unsafe'.

OneIndia News