Pakistan court junks petitions to provide 26/11 voice samples

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad high court has dismissed two petitions seeking voices samples of seven 26/11 accused facing trial in Pakistan besides declaring two others, including executed terrorist Ajmal Kasab, as absconders.
The Dawn reported this without elaborating why the HC dismissed the petitions on Monday. A trial court had earli er dismissed petitions on voice samples in 2011 and 2015 saying there was no law to allow this.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had sought the samples to compare them with conversations Indian investigators had recorded and to present them before an anti-terrorism court (ATC), where the seven are being tried. The first petition said Indian intelligence agencies had intercepted the conversations of the handlers instructing the terrorists who had attacked Mumbai in 2008.
"According to the reports, the handlers of attackers remained in touch with the terrorists for instructions through Voiceover Internet Protocol (VoIP) and satellite/mobile phones, which also indicate connectivity with LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) militants including Abu Al-Qama," the petition said.
It added that India had handed over the recordings to Pakistan in a CD and that the FIA needed the samples to verify if the conversations were those of the accused. The petition argued that the samples were essential for concluding investigations in the case.
The court dismissed another petition seeking declaration of Kasab and Fahim Ansari, who was acquitted in the case in India, as absconders to “meet legal formalities”.
The dismissal of the petition regarding voice samples is likely to further delay the trial, which has been impeded several times since 2009.
In April 2005, 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was bailed after the government failed to keep him behind bars. He had been arrested in December 2008 from LeT’s headquarters in Muzaffarabad and was booked along with six others two months later.