Pakistan Charges 7 in Mumbai Attacks

Pakistan Charges 7 in Mumbai Attacks
By SAHAR HABIB GHAZI
Copyright by The New York Times
Published: November 25, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/world/asia/26mumbai.html?ref=global-home


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan —Seven men accused of planning last year’s attacks in Mumbai were formally charged on Wednesday, nearly one year after militants killed more than 160 people in India’s sprawling commercial capital.

Charges against the suspects had been expected since February, when Pakistan said it was holding several men and acknowledged for the first time that the attacks had been planned on Pakistani soil. But months of postponements and closed-door legal hearings followed, delaying the indictments until Wednesday.

Fraught relations between the rival nuclear powers deteriorated further after the attacks, as Pakistan denied any connection and India suspended peace talks and pressed Pakistan to bring the plotters to justice. The charges against the seven suspects will offer a crucial test of Pakistan’s promises to pursue charges in the case.

On Wednesday, the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, welcomed news of the charges but said that Pakistan had not gone far enough to pursue militants within its own borders.

“It is our strong feeling that the government of Pakistan could do more to bring to book people who are still roaming around in the country freely and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism and I can only hope that there will be progress in that area,” Mr. Singh told reporters, according to Agence-France Presse.

The seven suspects charged Wednesday include Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the operational commander of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, who is suspected to be the mastermind of the attacks. Hammad Amin Sadiq, who is believed to have coordinated the finances for the attacks, and Zarar Shah, described as a computer and networks expert, were also among those charged.

The suspects were presented in a makeshift courtroom in Adiala jail, a high-security detention center just outside Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

All seven suspects pleaded not guilty, according to a lawyer from the defense.

“The charges leveled against the accused are not supported by witness testimony and documentary evidence,” said Shahbaz Rajpoot, one of five lawyers representing the defendants. “These charges are being framed upon pressure from external forces.” So far, Pakistan has declined to bring criminal charges against the Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, whom Indian and Western officials have accused of masterminding the attacks. Mr. Saeed, a founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was placed under house arrest after the attacks, but Pakistan has said that it does not have enough evidence to charge him in the plot.

Because of political wrangling between India and Pakistan, evidence was being exchanged through ministries instead of law enforcement agencies, possibly complicating the trial, said Ahmer Bilal Soofi, an international law expert.

The next hearing has been set for Dec. 5.