Pakistan waits for Indian response over judicial panel

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Pakistan is waiting for India to identify the place for holding the proceedings of its judicial commission that would interview witnesses connected with the 26/11 terror probe, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

Malik said Saturday that almost all the legal formalities have been completed and Pakistan is waiting for India's reply.

"The commission will be sent to India within a week after receiving the awaited letter," Associated Press of Pakistan quoted the minister as saying. India on November 5 welcomed Pakistan's decision to send the judicial commission.

Pakistan's High Commissioner Shahid Malik had met Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram and conveyed to him that the Pakistani government would soon be sending the commission to take forward the process of bringing to justice the perpetrators and conspirators of the Mumbai carnage.

The commission is expected to record the statements of Mumbai Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate R.V. Sawant Waghule and investigating officer Ramesh Mahale, who had recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Amir Kasab, convicted of the terror attack.

Kasab is the lone surviving terrorist caught alive during the 26/11 attacks and he has already been convicted in the case by an Indian court.

Islamabad has contended that the charges against seven LeT militants including its 'operation commander' Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi who are currently lodged in a Pakistani jail were based on Kasab's statement and hence the magistrate and the investigating officer's statements were necessary to furnish before the anti-terror court.