- India to serve summons to Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi via diplomatic channels.
- NIA and Mumbai Police seek trial in absentia for terror accused.
- Action targets 2025 Pahalgam, 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
India is planning to take legal action against top Pakistan-based terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founders Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, through diplomatic channels for their involvement in the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack case and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
According to a CNN-News18 report, India is likely to serve court summons on Saeed in Lahore through diplomatic channels. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has moved to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) after a special NIA court earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against Saeed, said the sources. The NIA will send the summons through the MEA over their role in the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April 2025, in which 26 civilians were killed and over 20 others injured. If Saeed and other accused fail to appear before the Indian court, proceedings will continue in their absence.
Interpol Help Sought To Serve Order Against Saeed, Others For Trial In Absentia
Similarly, the Mumbai Police approached the Union Home Ministry to serve the court proclamation orders via Interpol against six absconding accused, including Saeed and Lakhvi, setting the stage to try them in absentia for their role in the 26/11 terror attacks.
The police, represented by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, submitted on Friday an interim report on the proclamation order issued in July this year against the absconding accused for initiating the process for trial in absentia.
"We have written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for taking necessary steps in serving the proclamation order, through Interpol, against the accused residing in Pakistan," Nikam told the special court hearing terror cases.
"On August 3, the MHA had acknowledged our request, and sought time for filing a status of the same," he said. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, mandates full criminal trials in absentia for proclaimed offenders, who have absconded to evade trial and where there is no immediate prospect of arrest.
The court conducting trial in the 26/11 attacks case had issued the proclamation orders against Saeed, Lakhvi and other absconding accused Sajid Mir, Abu Alqama, Asim alias Abu Qahafa, and Major Abdur Rehman Pasha, all Pakistani nationals. Terrorist Ajmal Kasab mentioned the role of these men in the attack and accused turned approver David Headley.
Kasab was the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist captured alive during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in November 2008. Convicted of mass murder and waging war against India, he was sentenced to death and hanged at Yerwada Central Jail in Pune on November 21, 2012. A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking people at iconic and vital locations of Mumbai.
(With PTI Inputs)
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