Conveying verdict on Samjhauta express blast, India asks Pakistan for expeditious trial in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack

NewsBharati    21-Mar-2019
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New Delhi, March 21: With the NIA (National Investigation Agency) special court acquitting the convicts in the Samjhauta Express blast, the message was conveyed to Pakistan by Indian High Commisioner Ajay Bisaria. Along with it, Indian High Commisioner Bisaria also asked for expeditious trial in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008 in which “detailed evidence has been given to Pakistan.”

 

Conveying the news of Samjhauta express blast, India has said the due process of law was followed in the trial of four people, accused of plotting and carrying out the 2007 Samjhautha Express blasts, who were acquitted by a special court on Wednesday. Ajay Bisaria said that “India has highlighted the due process of law which was followed by the Indian Courts and judicial system in a transparent manner".

Ajay Bisaria also asked for expeditious trial in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008 in which “detailed evidence has been given to Pakistan". He expressed disappointment that progress in these trials is held up and the perpetrators and prime accused continue to roam freely in Pakistan.

The Indian High Commission also shared India's concerns at the lack of progress in investigations in 2016 Pathankot airbase terror attack even when a visit by a joint investigation team was arranged and detailed evidence shared with Islamabad. It was also pointed out that Pakistan is yet to take credible and irreversible steps against Jaish e Mohammed and other terror entities and individuals, despite a detailed dossier having been shared after (14 February) Pulwama attack.

The Samjhauta Express, one of the few rail link between India and Pakistan, was bombed in February 2007. Four improvised explosive devices were planted on the train on 18 February 2007, in which 68 lives were lost. At least 42 of the dead were Pakistani nationals.

 

The bi-weekly train that runs on Wednesdays and Sundays between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan, has played a key role in improving people-to-people contacts between the two countries partitioned at the end of British rule in 1947.

An investigation, conducted over almost one year, established that the entire conspiracy was hatched between 2005 and 2007 by the four suspects including Swami Aseemanand. Aseemanand was one of those acquitted on Wednesday.