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NEW DELHI: India wants to send a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Pakistan to physically examine all material evidence collected by the neighbouring country's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with its 26\11 terror attack case probe there. New Delhi will soon write to Islamabad, making a formal request to this effect.
The matter was first discussed between Indian home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik when they met on sidelines of a SAARC conference in Maldives last week. Malik is learnt to have assured Shinde to look at Indian request within the legal ambit.
"A formal request will now be sent to Pakistan through the ministry of external affairs, referring to pending Indian letter rogatory (LR) there", said an official, adding Islamabad would hopefully agree for it and may allow the NIA team to visit there.
He said: "If Pakistan agrees, the NIA team will visit Islamabad even before Pakistani judicial commission comes to Mumbai again for cross-examining the four witnesses of the 26\11 case".
Sources here said that besides examining material evidence including items seized from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camps where 10 Mumbai attackers had got training, the NIA team would also try to have a look at the Pakistani ship, Al-Hussaini, which was used by the terrorists.
The possibility of seeking access to the five prosecution witnesses who testified before a Pakistani anti-terrorism court about the training of the terrorists who carried out the Mumbai attack is also in the mind of investigators.
"But, this will entirely depend on Pakistan as visit of investigators under the pending LR is restricted to looking at evidences and interaction or exchange of information between probe agencies", said an official.
The LR (a legal request through Indian court seeking help of Pakistan in Mumbai terror attack case probe) has been pending for long as Islamabad initially resisted the move to allow foreign investigators to conduct probe on its soil. The matter now appears to have moved a bit forward after both the countries agreed to enhance cooperation between the NIA and FIA on issues of mutual concern, including 26\11 investigation, during the home secretary-level talks in May.
Pakistan, meanwhile, pitched for sending its judicial commission to Mumbai for second time to cross-examine four witnesses.
Malik put forward the Islamabad's request to Shinde while referring to Pakistan's trial court order that rejected the findings of the Judicial Commission which visited Mumbai in March. The Court had in July said that the report of the panel had no "evidential value" as it was not allowed to cross-examine the four witnesses and asked the Panel to visit India again for the job.
The four witnesses who are supposed to be quizzed by the panel include the magistrate, who recorded the confessional statement of arrested LeT terrorist Azmal Kasab, the investigating officer of the 26\11 case and two doctors who conducted the post-mortem of the nine slain terrorists.
Sources in the home ministry said that though India would allow Pakistani judicial commission to visit Mumbai, there was some resistance among a section of officials here over the move as they believed that there was no guarantee that Islamabad would not put forth another condition or demand for speeding up the 26\11 trial there in future.
The matter was first discussed between Indian home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik when they met on sidelines of a SAARC conference in Maldives last week. Malik is learnt to have assured Shinde to look at Indian request within the legal ambit.
"A formal request will now be sent to Pakistan through the ministry of external affairs, referring to pending Indian letter rogatory (LR) there", said an official, adding Islamabad would hopefully agree for it and may allow the NIA team to visit there.
He said: "If Pakistan agrees, the NIA team will visit Islamabad even before Pakistani judicial commission comes to Mumbai again for cross-examining the four witnesses of the 26\11 case".
Sources here said that besides examining material evidence including items seized from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) training camps where 10 Mumbai attackers had got training, the NIA team would also try to have a look at the Pakistani ship, Al-Hussaini, which was used by the terrorists.
The possibility of seeking access to the five prosecution witnesses who testified before a Pakistani anti-terrorism court about the training of the terrorists who carried out the Mumbai attack is also in the mind of investigators.
"But, this will entirely depend on Pakistan as visit of investigators under the pending LR is restricted to looking at evidences and interaction or exchange of information between probe agencies", said an official.
The LR (a legal request through Indian court seeking help of Pakistan in Mumbai terror attack case probe) has been pending for long as Islamabad initially resisted the move to allow foreign investigators to conduct probe on its soil. The matter now appears to have moved a bit forward after both the countries agreed to enhance cooperation between the NIA and FIA on issues of mutual concern, including 26\11 investigation, during the home secretary-level talks in May.
Pakistan, meanwhile, pitched for sending its judicial commission to Mumbai for second time to cross-examine four witnesses.
Malik put forward the Islamabad's request to Shinde while referring to Pakistan's trial court order that rejected the findings of the Judicial Commission which visited Mumbai in March. The Court had in July said that the report of the panel had no "evidential value" as it was not allowed to cross-examine the four witnesses and asked the Panel to visit India again for the job.
The four witnesses who are supposed to be quizzed by the panel include the magistrate, who recorded the confessional statement of arrested LeT terrorist Azmal Kasab, the investigating officer of the 26\11 case and two doctors who conducted the post-mortem of the nine slain terrorists.
Sources in the home ministry said that though India would allow Pakistani judicial commission to visit Mumbai, there was some resistance among a section of officials here over the move as they believed that there was no guarantee that Islamabad would not put forth another condition or demand for speeding up the 26\11 trial there in future.
