Mumbai evidence not valid, Pakistan tells India

ISLAMABAD — Islamabad has told New Delhi that recently obtained evidence of the Mumbai attacks is inadmissible in court because Pakistanis were not allowed to cross-examine Indian officials, a Pakistani lawyer said Wednesday.

The Pakistani interior ministry wrote formally to the Indian government after a court rejected the evidence in July on the basis that the Pakistanis could not question Indian officials, prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar said.

The letter is likely to aggravate New Delhi, which has branded Pakistan’s attempts at prosecuting seven alleged conspirators a “facade” and has insisted it has already handed over enough evidence to convict the accused.

Pakistan charged the seven men over the 2008 Mumbai attacks in 2009, but insists it needs to gather more evidence in India before proceeding further.

“Defense lawyers were not given an opportunity to cross examine Indian officials,” said Zulfiqar, who headed the judicial commission’s visit in March. — AFP