The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday stayed the hearing of a case related to the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in an anti-terrorism court to allow the prosecution to produce 19 witnesses, The Express Tribune reported. The court gave the prosecutors a week’s time.
Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency prosecutor Akram Qureshi told the divisional bench, comprising Justices Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Akhter Kiyani, that they had traced most of the witnesses but needed a stay to allow them to appear in court.
When Kiyani purportedly said that some of the witnesses were not appearing in court out of fear and asked the prosecution if they will do so in time, Qureshi replied in the affirmative.
The court issued notices to 174 respondents in the case, including the alleged perpetrators of the attacks.
At least 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the attacks carried out by 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba militants. While Indian security forces killed nine of the attackers, Ajmal Kasab was captured alive. He was awarded the death sentence and executed in 2012.
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