ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Islamabad on Tuesday ordered that a judicial commission would visit Karachi to inspect a boat which was allegedly used in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

An ATC  Judge heard the Mumbai attack case and accepted a request filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to inspect the boat  ‘Alfoz ‘ in Karachi. The FIA had requested the court to send a judicial commission to examine the boat as it was difficult to produce it before the court.

In addition to examining the boat, the commission would also record the statement of a witness, Munir, during its visit to Karachi.

Earlier, ATC-II judge had allowed the FIA’s application requesting the court to exhibit a boat as evidence as it was allegedly used for transporting the assailants to the open seas of Pakistan and India and ultimately led to the attack in Mumbai.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till September 28.

The court’s decision to inspect the boat in Karachi comes days after India wrote a letter to Pakistan, suggesting legal ways, to expedite trial of the Mumbai terror attacks case.

India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup on September 15 said that Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had written to his Pakistani counterpart to speed up the trial, which is pending for almost eight years.

In the letter, Jaishankar suggested several ways which Pakistan could use to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice, including cooperation through legal channels.

“The trial in the Mumbai terror attack and Pakistan has not moved expeditiously, although it will soon be eight years since that dastardly attack took place. In order to bring the guilty to book, our foreign secretary has recently written to his Pakistani counterpart, suggesting ways in which the trial could be expedited through cooperation through the legal channel,” Swarup said.

Jaishankar, had written the letter after the FIA dropped charges against a suspect in the Mumbai attack case after failing to find any incriminating evidence.

The FIA had submitted a charge sheet before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) and placed the suspect, Sufiyan Zafar, in the second column of the charge sheet, which means no evidence was found against him.

According to the prosecution, Zafar had reportedly provided financial assistance to the other suspects. In the charge sheet, the FIA revealed that Zafar had transferred Rs14,000 into a suspect’s account. During the course of investigation, the investigators said it had emerged that Zafar had lent the money to the other suspects also  without asking why they needed it.

Over 166 people were killed and over 300 wounded when gunmen attacked landmarks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, triggering three days of gunfights.