26/11: Pakistani officials reveal details of training of Lakhvi, others

Islamabad: Pakistani officials have revealed the details of training given to the 26/11 Mumbai attackers. They have admitted in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi that the key accused including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi got training at Lashkar-e-Toiba camps in Karachi, Mansehra and Muzaffarabad.

The Pakistani investigators have told court that the information has come from informers. Lakhvi's counsel has dismissed their testimony as fabricated. Lawyers defending the seven accused Pakistanis questioned whether prosecutors have hard evidence that the attackers trained in camps in Sindh and other locations. Khwaja Haris Ahmed, the counsel for Lakhvi, asked the prosecution witnesses whether they had actually seen the suspects training at the LeT camps.

The witnesses replied that their testimony was based on official reports about activities at the camps and that they had not witnessed the suspects training in the use of firearms or explosive devices, Ahmed contended. "We also asked them that if there were reports on the activities in these camps that were sent to senior officials, why no action was taken against the camps. Our contention is that there were no such camps," Ahmed said.

Ahmed further said that the prosecution witnesses had not produced the reports on the training camps in court on the ground that they were "secret". Special Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told the judge that the witnesses were responsible officials who recorded their statements without any pressure.

He further said it was their task to keep members of banned groups like the LeT under surveillance. The prosecution witnesses had first testified about the training of the attackers in LeT camps during a hearing on September 29.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik is set to visit India on November 22.

(With additional information from PTI)