India proposes 26/11 panel to Pakistan

India has proposed to send a commission to Islamabad to quiz 26/11 Mumbai attack terror suspects, including the alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, reports said on Thursday.

The commission intends to interrogate and collect voice samples of seven people, including Lakhvi, linked to the 2008 attacks that claimed 166 lives in a 60-hour siege of key locations in Mumbai.

The accused were arrested by Pakistani authorities in November 2009.

The new proposal follows a series of appeals, including one personally by Home Minister P Chidambaram, to provide Indian sleuths with voice samples and access to the suspects.

Pakistan is time and again accused of perpetually stonewalling India’s appeals to expedite the prosecution of the accused.

In this proposal the Indian government is purportedly using Pakistan’s appeal to allow a commission to record statements from Indian officials who have conducted the probes, autopsies and trials in the case, as a bargaining chip.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s The Express Tribune said the country’s Foreign Office has assured that the two countries are “working quietly” to iron out their differences on issues that have so far prevented the resumption of stalled peace process between the nuclear armed-neighbours.