Pak: Judge misses 26/11 hearing, case adjourned

The hearing in the Mumbai attacks case against Lahkar-e-Tayiba's Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other accused, scheduled for Saturday in a Rawalpindi court, could not take place due to unavailability of the judge and general strike in Pakistan's garrison city to protest against the terror assault on a mosque that killed 40 people.

"There was no hearing today due to the strike in Rawalpindi and the unavailability of the judge," Shahbaz Rajput, the lawyer for some of the accused, said.

It was not known why anti-terrorism court Judge Malik Muhammad Akram Awan, who is conducting the trial at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for security reasons, was not available for the hearing.

The next hearing has been scheduled for December 12, Rajput said.

Rawalpindi also witnessed a strike on Saturday to protest against yesterday's terror attack on a mosque near army's general headquarters.

A major general and four senior officers of the Pakistani army were among 40 people killed when suicide attackers stormed the mosque frequented by military personnel, spraying bullets on hundreds of Friday worshippers and hurling grenades before blowing themselves up.

On November 25, the anti-terrorism court formally charged LeT's operations commander and Mumbai attack mastermind Lakhvi and six other suspects -- Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum – with planning and helping execute the terror strikes on India's financial hub last year.

The court had also rejected bail pleas of some of the accused.

 On Thursday last, the Lahore high court disposed of two petitions filed by Lakhvi challenging his indictment for involvement in the 26/11 strikes.

While disposing of the petitions, a Rawalpindi-based bench of the Lahore high court only directed the anti-terrorism court to consider Lakhvi's objections against his indictment under provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.