Lawyers boycott Pak's 26/11 trial

A Pakistani anti-terror court conducting the trial of Lashkar-e-Tayiba's operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others for involvement in the Mumbai attacks adjourned the hearing for a week, on Saturday, after defence lawyers boycotted the proceedings complaining of lack of security.

Shahbaz Rajput, one of the defence lawyers, told PTI that they had boycotted the hearing because the anti-terror court in Rawalpindi had not implemented the Lahore high court's ruling that the counsels should be provided adequate security."When we reached the anti-terrorism court on Saturday, we found no arrangement had been made for our security and for consultations with our clients as was directed by the Lahore high court," said Rajput.

The court has scheduled the next hearing for January 30. While dismissing Lakhvi's petition for transferring the case against him from Rawalpindi to Lahore due to a purported threat to his life, the court had directed authorities to provide adequate security to the accused and their counsels.

The high court had earlier directed authorities in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail, where the accused are being held and the trial conducted, to make arrangements for the suspects to hold consultations with their lawyers. The seven accused - Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum - were last year formally charged with planning and helping execute the Mumbai attacks.