The Special Investigation Cell (SIC) failed to produce the suspects of the Mumbai terrorist attacks before an anti-terrorist court for the second consecutive day here on Saturday. The judge of Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) Rawalpindi waited till 3:30 pm for the accused to be produced before him. Since the SIC has registered the case under the Terrorism Act, therefore, the accused had to be presented before the ATC.A case was registered against eight persons -- including Hamad Ameen Sadiq, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza, Khan, Muhammad Ashfaq, Javed Iqbal, Zarar Shah and Muhammad Riaz -- on February 12 for their alleged involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
According to details, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi belongs to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant organisation accused by India to be behind the Mumbai attacks. Zarar Shah allegedly prepared a website for the Daccan Mujahideen.
Khan reportedly arranged boats for the attackers to travel from Karachi to Mumbai while Javed Iqbal allegedly coordinated with the attackers through email and Internet. He was arrested in Spain. Besides, Hamad Khan is accused of being the mastermind of the attacks while Muhammad Riaz has been accused of sending Ajmal Kasab to Mumbai.
The accused had to be produced before the court on Friday but the FIA could not produce them even on Saturday. Reliable sources told The News that the Special Investigation Cell had sent the arrested accused to the Adiala Jail on judicial remand. They said the FIA did not want to present them before the media and hence had shifted them to a special cell in the jail.
The counsel for Hamad Ameen Sadiq, Shahbaz Rajpoot Advocate, told The News that the FIA was bound to produce the accused before the court within 24 hours of their arrest.