Court reserves judgement

RAWALPINDI - A division bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) here on Tuesday reserved its decision on a petition moved by alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attack, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, against the decision of a trial court on his application for acquittal in the case.
The bench comprising Justice Sagheer Ahmed Qadri and Justice Ejazul Ahsan reserved the decision after Special Prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Noon and the defence counsel completed their arguments.
The Special Prosecutor told the court that prosecution had ample proofs that Lakhvi was involved in Mumbai attack. He contended that confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving attacker, was sent to government through proper channel from India, which could be produced before the court as evidence against the accused. He further argued that national investigating agencies of Pakistan in their investigations also found him guilty.
The petitioner Lakhvi had filed the petition through his lawyer Khwaja Sultan Ahmed against the dismissal of his acquittal plea by the trial court. He stated in his petition that proceedings against him should be quashed and he should be acquitted under section 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code on the grounds that there was no evidence or witness against him that could get him convicted in the case.
Lakhvi said the judge had failed to appreciate the fact that there was no witness against him and no incriminating material had been recovered from his custody or on his information by the investigating agency. He further maintained that he had been implicated in the case on the information provided by India on the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab.
He contended that under the law, the confessional statement was not admissible as evidence against him because Kasab had not been cited as an accused or proclaimed offender in three separate charge sheets submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the case.
Lakhvi said the prosecution had no evidence that he had trained Kasab for terrorist activities or hatched a conspiracy to carry out the Mumbai attack and the documentary evidence on the record only revealed the running of training campus.
Meanwhile, the same bench directed the Standing Counsel for Federation to assist the court in a petition seeking disqualification of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer. The petitioner Sardar Zaheer Ahmed Khan moved the court seeking disqualification of Taseer on the grounds that latter represented a peculiar party instead of the whole province and should be disqualified. The bench adjourned the proceedings till February 8.