Islamabad:
Confusion surrounded the status of the ongoing trial of five LeT militants in Pakistan in connection with Mumbai attacks as apparently the contract of the judge hearing the case expired and nobody has been appointed so far to replace him. The trial includes its operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
The five -- Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Abu al Qama and Shahid Jameel Riaz -- arrested after the 26/11 attacks were to be indicted by the anti-terror court judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahut on Saturday, who was hearing the case at the high-security Adiala jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad.
However, authorities did not renew the contract of Kahut after its expiry recently, sources said, adding that no new judge has been appointed so far to take up the case. They said the hearing is unlikely to be held on Saturday.
Shabaz Rajput, the counsel for the five LeT men, claimed that judge Kahut was removed by the government with "malafide intentions".
Kahut was familiar with the case and his removal will hamper the trial, he said.
The judge had on May 12 deferred the indictment of the five LeT operatives till May 23 as their advocate had not appeared before him during the last hearing in view of a countrywide strike by lawyers.
Kahut had also issued a notice to the counsel for the suspects in connection with the Federal Investigation Agency's application that the proceedings should be held in-camera due to the sensitivity of the case.
The FIA had submitted the "challan" or chargesheet on May 5 along with evidence against the suspects to Judge Kahut.
Lakhvi, the operations commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba, was arrested during a raid by the army near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in December last year.
India has accused him of masterminding the Mumbai attacks that killed over 180 people. Authorities have framed charges against the five suspects under the Anti-Terrorism Act, Pakistan Penal Code and a cyber crimes law.
Security at the Adiala Jail was recently tightened with the deployment of 300 additional personnel and installation of anti-aircraft guns following reports that militants could attempt a jailbreak to free Lakhvi and other suspects.