Trial of Mumbai attackers in Pakistan adjourned

AFP, Islamabad

The trial in Pakistan of the five accused of involvement in last year's terror attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai has been adjourned until next week, the defence lawyer said Saturday.
A total of 166 people died and more than 300 were injured in the November 26-29 attacks, which saw 10 heavily-armed gunmen target luxury hotels, the city's main railway station, a popular restaurant and Jewish centre. "The hearing has been adjourned till July 25 and I was given access to the accused persons," defence lawyer Shahbaz Rajput told AFP.
"Judge Baqar Ali Rana allowed me to meet the accused persons and I have filed documents to defend them," he said.
"We have requested the court that we should be provided details of evidence against us so that we can prepare the defence."
Rajput said the hearing was adjourned after the state made a request for in-camera proceedings. Relations between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan worsened dramatically after the carnage in India's financial capital that New Delhi blamed on the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik said last week the trial against the five accused, including the alleged mastermind Zakiduddin Lakhvi, would be "transparent".
Journalists are not allowed to witness the proceedings at a special court room set up in the high security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining capital Islamabad. Prosecution officials were not immediately available for comment. The Pakistan and Indian premiers met in Egypt on Thursday and vowed to cooperate in the fight against terror.