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Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has written to his Pakistani counterpart suggesting ways to expedite trial in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack case in the neighbouring country, but is yet to get a response.
Jaishankar wrote the letter on 6 September which was hand-delivered by the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad on 9 September, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
Noting that the trial in Pakistan has not progressed expeditiously although it will be eight years soon since the dastardly attack, Swarup said:
He said the step was prompted by the delay in bringing to book the people in Pakistan responsible for the Mumbai terror attack.
On 9 September, a former Lashkar operative arrested by Pakistan for his involvement in the 2008 terror attack was acquitted. Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency said that “no allegation has been proved against” Sufayan Zafar, who was accused of financing Rs 14,800 for the attack and providing Rs 3.98 crore to co-accused Shahid Jameel Riaz prior to the attack. Zafar was hiding after being declared proclaimed offender in the Mumbai case. He was arrested early last month from his hideout in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
A resident of Gujrawala district of Punjab, approximately 80 km from Lahore, Zafar was among the 21 absconding suspects wanted in this high-profile case.
Prime suspect Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, believed to be the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, is in hiding after getting bail over a year ago. 166 people, including many foreigners, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai attack carried out by 10 Lashkar terrorists. Nine of the attackers were killed and lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was captured and later hanged in 2012.
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