Pakistan court records witness' statement in Mumbai attack case

LAHORE: A Pakistani prosecution witness today recorded his statement against one of the seven accused, who used an international SIM card to give instructions to the 10 terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Federal Investigation Agency witness Gul Sheraz recorded his statement before an anti-terrorism court about the arrest of one of the accused Jamil Ahmed in the Mumbai attacks case.

He informed the court about the alleged involvement of Ahmed in the Mumbai attack.

Ahmed is said to have used an international SIM card to give instructions to the 10 terrorists who had carried out the attacks that left 166 people dead.

The court, which adjourned the hearing till May 7, issued summons for more witnesses.

During the last hearing on April 23, four witnesses were withdrawn due to unexplained reasons. Two of them were witnesses of FIA while the other two were private individuals. It was not known why the witnesses were withdrawn.

The anti-terrorism court judge held the proceeding at the Islamabad district court in protest over lack of proper security arrangements to him and other senior lawyers.

Following the attack on Islamabad court in March, the judge had refused to hold hearing of the case at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Anjum have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks in India's financial capital that killed 166 people in November, 2008.

All the accused are jailed in Adiala prison. Out of about 60 witnesses, the anti-terrorism court has so far completed cross examination of 35 prosecution witnesses.