26/11: Pak court resumes hearing in case against Lakhvi, others

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani anti-terror court today resumed the hearing into the case against five LeT operatives, including its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, in connection with the Mumbai attacks.

Details of the hearing, which was being held in-camera at the anti-terror court no 2 in the high-security Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near here, were hard to get as the court slapped gag orders on lawyers.

During the last hearing on July 25 as well, the journalists were barred from covering the trial which is being conducted inside the prison for security reasons.

Sources earlier had said that the counsel for the Federal Investigation Agency, which probed the Mumbai attacks and arrested the five Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives, had argued that the proceedings should be conducted in-camera in view of the sensitivity of the matter. This was accepted by the judge.

While Lakhvi is accused of masterminding the attack, the four others, including LeT's communications expert Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq and Shahid Jamil Riaz are being charged as facilitators, manager of funds and for locating hideouts for the attackers.