Pakistan will send judicial panel to India

THIMPHU (Agencies) - India has requested Pakistan for the voice samples of the seven accused in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and sought speedy trial of the case to bring to justice the perpetrators of the strikes. Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram made the request to his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik when they met here Saturday night on the sidelines of the SAARC Interior Ministers meeting. The Indian Home Minister referred to the requests made by the Home Ministry some of which were pending with Pakistan since their last meeting, a joint statement issued Sunday morning said. Though the statement did not specify what the requests were, it said they related to some of those pending with the Pakistani Interior Ministry. This was apparently in reference to Indias request for voice samples of the seven accused Pakistan has arrested in connection with the 26/11 attacks. Rehman Malik also 'sought an early response to some of the queries by his Ministry in the same context. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. The two ministers discussed matters of mutual interest and concerns, the statement said. Malik said the Pakistan was working for an early visit of a Judicial Commission from Pakistan. The visit is primarily aimed at recording statement of the magistrate, RV Sawant Waghule, who had recorded the confession of Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive during the Mumbai attacks. Malik said the meeting was 'very good and held in a very cordial atmosphere. Issues of mutual interests were discussed, said Malik. The joint statement said Malik expressed that the visit of the judicial commission will take place at an early date. In response, the Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram affirmed that India is willing to receive the visit. The two ministers agreed to ensure that their ministries will remain in contact with each other on this and other matters, the statement said. Malik said Pakistan governments appeal to allow it to take voice samples of the accused was rejected by a lower court and he had discussed the issue with Chidambaram. What is important is to go through the legal channel. So in the first level in the court, it was rejected - that government was not allowed to take samples of voice. Then we moved to the next stage - the higher court. The high court, where we have appealed against the order of the lower court to allow the government to take the samples from the accused enabling us to send it to India, he said.

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