In an interesting development in the ongoing investigation into the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, India is apparently now willing to permit a Pakistani judicial panel to meet a magistrate and police officer who were associated with the interrogation of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker to be captured after the incident.
India had declined to send Kasab or the magistrate and police officer over for interrogation by a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court, while Pakistan for its part said its judicial system doesn’t accept depositions by video conference.
If the Pakistani panel does visit, it will be a notable advance in frozen Indo-Pakistan ties (which the Pakistan government has been disinclined to energize due to the reservations of the Pakistan Army).
The Pakistani Army and the country’s intelligence service, the ISI, have been stung by India’s publicizing of the apparent confession of Pakistani-American terrorist and spy for Lashkar-e-Taiba, David Coleman Headley, who seems to have confirmed both organizations were closely involved with the terrorist group.
While Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Interior Minister Rehman Malik are pragmatic and want to push along relations with India, the rest of the government appears to be looking for directions from Pakistan Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.