26/11 case: Pak court puts off hearing of FIA plea till Jul 19

Islamabad, Jul 15: A Pakistani court conducting the trial of LeT's Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Thursday, Jul 14 put off till July 19 the hearing of an application filed by prosecutors to speed up the proceedings of the case.

Anti-terrorism court judge Shahid Rafique took up the application filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) this morning but the matter was deferred till the afternoon as the prosecutors had to appear in another important case, sources said.

When the hearing resumed in the afternoon, the judge was forced to put off the matter till July 19 as the defence lawyers were not present in court, prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar told PTI.

The next regular hearing of the case against the seven accused had earlier been scheduled for July 23. In its application filed earlier this week, the prosecution asked the judge to take up the case before July 23.

Though no reason was given by officials for the move, it is believed it was done with an eye to the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan to be held in New Delhi in the last week of this month.

PTI