Pakistan wants 26/11 attacker

Pakistan has asked India to hand over the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, remembered at 26/11, so that it can complete its own trial of seven suspects linked to the assault, officials said yesterday.

"We have sought India's help that he (Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Kasab) should be handed over to us so that the trial here can go forward," said foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit.

He said that Pakistan handed over to India six dossiers on its own investigation into Mumbai attacks, with a request that India in turn hand over Kasab and an Indian national, Fahim Ansari, who helped the attackers. Pakistan is holding seven suspects linked to the November 26-29 attack on India's financial capital, including alleged mastermind of the operation, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Zarar Shah.

India and Washington have both blamed the Mumbai attack on the LeT.

An anti-terrorism court in the garrison town of Rawalpindi indicted the seven men on the eve of the first anniversary of the attack, in which at least 166 people were killed and which ended a fragile peace process with Pakistan.

Since the indictment, Pakistani officials have implied that the seven suspects' trial cannot proceed unless Kasab, who was convicted in Mumbai last month after a year-long trial, is handed over as a witness.

Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who went on the rampage through Mumbai, has been convicted on charges including murder and waging war on India.

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