26/11 accused used fake stamps to attest ID: Pakistan witness

ISLAMABAD: Indian national Fahim Ansari, earlier accused of being an LeT member and co-conspirator in the 2008 Mumbai attack case, used fake Pakistani official seals to attest his false identity under which he travelled to Pakistan, a government witness told the anti-terrorism court.

"Fake stamps of my department for attestation of the fake computerised national identity card (CNIC) of Hammad Hassan were used," Sadiq, an employee of the Parliament House, testified in the ATC Islamabad which held the hearing at the Adiala Jail Rawalpindi yesterday, according to a court official.

"Subsequently on the same identity, a passport was issued (which was used by Fahim Ansari to travel to Pakistan under the name of Hassan before the attack)," the official told PTI.

Sadiq told the court that he would present the public record in this regard during the next hearing.

The court adjourned the hearing till December 21.

During External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit earlier this month, Pakistan assured India of "steps being taken to expedite the early conclusion" of the Mumbai attack trial, something that India has been pressing for long.

A Federal Investigation Agency ( FIA) official was also to testify in yesterday's hearing but could not reach the court due to a delay in his flight from Karachi.

According to the FIA, the Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System (PISCES) of Karachi airport shows that Ansari, who has been acquitted by Indian courts, had travelled to Pakistan under the name of Hammad Hassan before the Mumbai attacks.

Ansari allegedly made a map of targets in Mumbai.

In August 2012, India's Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, the two Indians accused of being co-conspirators in the Mumbai attack.

The trial court and the Bombay High Court, too, gave a clean chit to the duo.

Ansari allegedly obtained a Pakistani passport on November 1, 2007 by using forged documents. The passport was seized from him after his arrest in Uttar Pradesh in another case on February 10, 2008.

The trial against LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Sadiq, Shahid Jamil, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum has been underway since 2009 for their alleged role in the Mumbai attack.

Lakhvi, 55, secured bail in December last year and was subsequently released from the Adiala Jail on April 10 after the Lahore High Court set aside the government's order to detain him under a public security act.