Author: Timesofindia.Com
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 15, 2009.
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
has been granted a 14-day judicial remand of the alleged mastermind of the
Mumbai terror attacks and LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, TV
reports say.
According to Times Now, besides Lakhvi, FIA
has also been granted the custody of five other accused including Lashkar-e-Taiba
communications expert Zarar Shah, a day after an FIR was lodged against them.
Pakistan's Geo TV quoted Foreign Office sources
as saying that Rawalpindi's anti-terrorism court had granted the custody to
the FIA - paving the way for Lakhvi's detailed interrogation.
The judge issued the order after reviewing
evidence produced by investigative agency against them, the sources were quoted
as saying, PTI reported.
The judge recorded the suspects' statements
before sending them to physical remand, the report said.
Meanwhile, 'Dawn' on Sunday reported, quoting
an unnamed security official, that the suspects, including Lakhvi, were produced
before judge Sakhi Mohammed Kahut of the anti-terrorism court at an undisclosed
location.
The FIA is expected to submit a chargesheet
against the suspects at the end of the remand, it said. The agency has already
conducted preliminary investigations into the case.
Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai
attacks, was arrested in December near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied
Kashmir.
Both Lakhvi and Shah, another accused named
in the FIR is Hamad Ameen Sadiq, a key militant linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba,
western diplomatic sources told news agencies.
Pakistan on Saturday briefed foreign envoys
on the steps taken by it to cooperate with India in bringing the perpetrators
of the Mumbai attacks to justice and to eliminate terrorism and militancy.
The heads of diplomatic missions in Islamabad
were also briefed by foreign secretary Salman Bashir on Pakistan's perspective
on "peace, security and stability, with particular emphasis on the situation
in South Asia".
Meanwhile, Pakistan interior minister Rehman
Malik on Saturday said that his country may demand from India the custody
of Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor among the accused of the Mumbai terror attacks.
"So far, we have not asked India for
the custody of Kasab. But we may seek it if the investigation demands,"
Rehman Malik said in the southern port city of Karachi, adding that at the
moment, it would be premature to say anything else in the matter.
India was quick to react, saying there was
no way this could happen.
"The crime was committed in India. There
is no question of handing Kasab to them. In fact, Pakistan should hand over
to India the other suspects they've arrested because they were responsible
for this terror attack. It can't be the other way around," sources in
the Indian external affairs ministry said in New Delhi.
"On what basis do we send Kasab out there?
The crime was committed out here (in Mumbai), therefore logic and reasoning
demands that the suspects who they've rounded up be sent here (to India),"
the sources told IANS.
Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said
the state had gathered enough evidence to show that Kasab, the only surviving
November 26 Mumbai terror suspect, had been a part of the criminal conspiracy
hatched in Pakistan to orchestrate the terror strikes at pre-decided sites
in Mumbai.
"We have all the evidence required. The
chargesheet will be filed within a couple of days," Nikam said.
"He is not educated and (is) poor and
the concept of religion was wrongly projected to him," he said.
IANS reported that Nikam said while victims
of such systematic brainwashing by extremist forces needed proper handling,
there was a need to distinguish between a freedom fighter and a terrorist.