Pakistani judicial commission to examine boat used in 26/11 Mumbai attacks

A judicial commission in Pakistan appointed by an anti-terrorism court will travel to Karachi next week to examine the boat used by 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists to reach India for carrying out the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

Headed by an ATC judge, the commission will travel to Karachi on October 6 to examine the boat — Al Fouz — and also record the testimony of a witness who saw the boat being seized.  

The commission includes officials from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the defence counsel and court officials. The body was constituted during a hearing into the Mumbai terror attacks case.

The Islamabad High Court had earlier set aside the ruling of a trial court of not allowing a probe committee to Karachi, terming it "flawed and not in accordance with law" and allowed examination of the boat in the port city.

The prosecution in May had challenged the trial court’s decision to reject its plea to form a commission to examine the boat so that the vessel could be made a "case property".

According to the FIA, the attackers used three boats to reach Mumbai from Karachi.

One of the boats, Al-Fauz, is in custody of Pakistani authorities in Karachi, the city from where the 10 LeT terrorists armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand-grenades had left for India.

En-route they hijacked another boat and killed four of its crew members. 

LeT operations commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum are accused of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the Mumbai attacks, which claimed lives of 166 people.

(WION with inputs from PTI)

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