Pakistan on Friday told India that the Mumbai terror attack trial was a judicial matter and there was nothing the Pakistani government could do over adjournment of the trial, The Hindu has learnt.
At the same time, it also expressed concern over the delay in the Samjhauta Express bombing case in which 68 people were killed, most of them Pakistanis.
Earlier in the day, India summoned Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi Mansoor A. Khan, two days after the ongoing trial of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks was adjourned in Pakistan on Wednesday.
In an exclusive conversation with The Hindu , the Pakistan High Commission said it had conveyed its inability to “do anything” in the matter to the Indian government.
“Like everywhere else in the developed world, the judiciary [in Pakistan] is independent…the executive has nothing to do with it,” Manzoor Ali Memon, spokesperson for the Pakistan High Commission said.
“Our job is to present evidence and prosecute the accused…we cannot push the judiciary…it is an independent institution and takes its own time,” he said. Riffat Masood, Director-General (South Asia and SAARC) with Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Indian Deputy High Commissioner that the 26/11 trial was taking its legal course and efforts were being made for its early conclusion.
