ISLAMABAD, Saturday (Reuters) - A Pakistani court due to hear the case against five Islamist militants accused of involvement in the attacks that killed 166 people in the Indian city of Mumbai adjourned until Wednesday without charges being read.
India wants forceful action by Pakistan to bring to justice leaders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group it says were behind the Nov. 26-29 attacks before formally resuming a peace process that was frozen during the subsequent tensions.
The government's prosecutor, Malik Rab Nawaz Noon, said formal charges against the accused had not yet been framed. “The proceedings were adjourned until July 29 after some statements were recorded today,” Noon told Reuters after the court briefly convened on Saturday.
The media and public have been barred from hearings being held at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, the garrison town next door to Islamabad, and lawyers from both sides have divulged little during pre-trial proceedings.
Across the border in India, a trial in Mumbai opened dramatically earlier this week when Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the only one of 10 Pakistani gunmen captured alive, pleaded guilty and asked to be hanged.
Having sent a dossier to New Delhi earlier this month, Pakistan has said it is waiting for more information from India to support the prosecution case, though Indian officials say all relevant information has been passed on.
Security concerns were cited as the reason for holding the trial inside the jail, though critics say the secrecy fuelled suspicions that Pakistani intelligence agencies don't want any relationships with the jihadis to be aired in public.
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