Panel in Karachi to examine Mumbai attack boat

A judicial commission set up by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court arrived here on Thursday to examine a boat used by Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists to sail to India to attack Mumbai in 2008.

The commission, comprising Special Prosecutor Misbah-ul-Hasan Qadri and Defence Counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi, is also expected to record the testimony of a witness who is believed to have seen the boat, Al-Fouz, being seized at the Karachi shipyard in 2009, Dawn newspaper reported.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday ordered the panel to travel to Karachi for the investigation because the boat was too large to be brought to the court.

Al-Fouz was allegedly used by the 10 Mumbai attackers to cross into Indian waters and carry out the Mumbai carnage, killing 166 people eight years ago.

The daily, citing sources, said the commission was due to submit its report to the court next week.

The report comes a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed fresh attempts to be made to restart the stalled Mumbai attacks-related trials.

The Prime Minister's pressure on the country's military leadership and its spy agencies followed Pakistan's admission that it was facing global isolation over its failure to curb terrorism and action against terrorists including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and Lashkar's Haafiz Sayeed.

--IANS

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