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Pakistan should co-operate with India in 26/11 trial

With the filing of the chargesheet in a Mumbai court in the November 26 terrorist attack case, the legal process of fixing responsibility and dispensing justice in the country’s one of the most heinous and well-planned crimes with international ramifications has started. The nature of the chargesheet, in which the surviving Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab and 35 other Pakistani nationals and two Indians have been named as accused, underlines the trans-border roots of the crime.The document, which runs into 11,280 pages with details of how the action was planned and executed, supported with evidence and witness statements, is the result of meticulous investigation. The investigating team deserves credit for putting it together and presenting a case, working against difficult odds. Only Kasab, among the Pakistanis, will be on trial in person and the fact that the 32 Pakistanis are yet to be apprehended, shows the challenging task of bringing to book all those involved in the crime. The names of even two serving officers of the Pakistan army figure in the chargesheet though it stops short of pointing to the involvement of any Pakistani official agency. A fair and speedy trial would strengthen India’s case, and it is still not late to ensure that Kasab is legally represented in the court.

While the judicial process has started in India, it is still not known at what stage the investigations that the Pakistan government has claimed to have started in that country are. Pakistan had admitted, probably under international pressure, that the conspiracy was hatched in that country, but it has not disclosed whether it has launched criminal proceedings against those involved, who include senior leaders of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Some of the clarifications it has sought from India create doubts that the Pakistani authorities are deliberately resorting to delaying tactics or trying to bring in extraneous issues within the purview of the investigation. The internal political situation in Pakistan and the government’s dubious policy on militancy might limit its ability to pursue the case and therefore there is the need for continued efforts to prod Islamabad in the matter.


The full extent of the conspiracy will be known and retributive action possible only if there is unreserved co-operation from Pakistan, the investigations on both sides complement each other and the judicial processes proceed simultaneously. It is more a matter of Pakistan’s will and sincerity than India’s readiness.