NEW DELHI: Although the killing of two Indian soldiers by the Pakistan army has sparked widespread outrage, the incident will not affect the visit of a Pakistani judicial commission to India in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case with home minister Sushilkumar Shinde seeing it as a "very positive step".
Shinde said the inclusion of Ujjwal Nikam, special prosecutor in the trial of Lashkar-e-Taiba gunman Ajmal Kasab in a team that visited Pakistan in December as an indicator of some positive movement.
Asked about the date of the visit of the Pakistani judicial commission for cross examination of four persons in connection with the 26/11 trial, Shinde said no date has been fixed yet but the government wants that the process should be completed soon.
"It (proposed visit of the panel) is a very positive step. The way they would be coming, we would also go ... We want this case to be concluded as early as possible," he said.
He said the team that had visited Pakistan last month had finalized the terms of reference of the judicial commission.
Asked whether infiltration into Jammu and Kashmir has been on the rise, Shinde said "infiltration has been going on" but Indian security forces were successful in eliminating many of the terrorists who entered in the recent past.
He said there was no information that Pakistan-based extremists were involved in Tuesday's killing of two Indian soldiers but some infiltrators could have been involved in some of the recent attacks on Indian soldiers.
The agreement on the second visit of the panel was finalized on December 25 in Islamabad following several rounds of discussions on complex technical and legal issues between a four-member visiting Indian delegation and Pakistani officials.
During its visit, the Indian team secured assurance from Pakistani authorities that the findings of the second judicial commission would not be summarily rejected by the anti- terrorism court that is conducting the trial of the seven LeT terrorists including the outfit's operational commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
The panel had visited Mumbai for the first time in March last year. But it was not allowed to cross examine the witnesses. It had then just recorded their statement and returned. Its findings were subsequently rejected by the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi as the panel's members were not allowed to cross-examine the Indian witnesses.
The witnesses are metropolitan magistrate RV Sawant Waghule, who recorded the confessional statement of hanged terrorist Ajmal Kasab, investigating officer Ramesh Mahale and two doctors from the state-run hospitals who had conducted autopsies of nine terrorists.
Visit of Pak judicial commission will not be affected
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Visit of Pak judicial commission will not be affected
