Sacking 26/11 prosecutor implies Pak saving terrorists

Jalgaon (Maharashtra) : Senior Lawyer and Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam on Sunday said that Pakistan's sudden decision to remove Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) special prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar implied that Islamabad was saving the terrorists who were responsible for the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Speaking to ANI, Nikam said, "If Pakistan has removed the chief public prosecutor from the 26/11 case, this simply means that they want to save the terrorists who were responsible for the attacks. This is all due to the pressure that has been building on Pakistan after David Headley's testimony."

"If they have removed their chief public prosecutor and they gave the reason that he was not following the government's instruction, so what does it mean? From 2008, he has been working as a government lawyer and now in 2018, all of a sudden, the Pakistan government says that he would be no longer required for the 26/11 trial case. It means that the Pakistan government wanted to harbour the terrorists who were responsible for the 26/11 attacks," he added.

In his 2016 testimony, terrorist David Headley, who is currently serving a 35-year jail term in the United States, had praised Ajmal Amir Kasab for carrying out the strikes and revealed that he had visited Mumbai seven times before the attacks and surveyed strategic locations such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and a naval base.

On Sunday, Pakistan's Interior Ministry abruptly removed Azhar from the 26/11 attack case for "not taking the government line." He was representing as chief of prosecution in the Mumbai attack case since 2009.

On November 26, 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi and carried out coordinated attacks in different parts of the city, killing 166 people and injuring over 600 others.

The lone survivor, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was caught and was sentenced to death at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune in 2012.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) was believed to have plotted the 26/11 attacks. Its mastermind, Hafiz Saeed, has been roaming freely in Pakistan.

New Delhi has, time and again, protested against Islamabad for harbouring Saeed, who is wanted for allegedly plotting the 2008 attack.

On a related note, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief, who had recently been released from house arrest, is also looking to contest the general elections in Pakistan later this year, and has, thereby, formed a party by the name of Milli Muslim League (MML).