Thimphu, July 25
Pakistan says its Constitution does not permit taking voice samples of any accused but still it would “exhaust” all possible means to give voice samples of 26/11 suspects to India.

It also says it cannot be alone held responsible for the delay in the trial of Mumbai attack accused in a Rawalpindi court and that India should share the blame for taking almost a year in granting permission to a Pakistani judicial commission to visit India.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said according to the Pakistan Penal Code and the Act of Evidence, the only identification of an accused acceptable was the thumb impression and officially no photograph or voice of any accused can be taken.

“If I give the samples by any other means by recording their voice and send it to India, that will be challenged in Pakistani court and there will be contempt of court on the investigators and prosecutors,” he told PTI in an interview.

Malik said the Pakistan Government’s appeal to allow it to take voice samples of the accused was rejected by a lower court and he had discussed the issue with his Indian counterpart P Chidambaram.

“What is important is to go through the legal channel. So in the first level in the court, it was rejected, that government was not allowed to take samples of voice. Then we move to the next stage, the higher court.

“The high court, where we have appealed against the order of the lower court to allow the government to take the samples from the accused enabling us to send it to India,” he said.

Making it clear that his government’s ‘neeyat’ (intention) was very clear about bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai attacks to justice, the Pakistani Minister said his government will “exhaust” all possible means to give voice samples to India.

“The moment the court permits us, we will definitely send (the voice samples to India). If the HC rejects, we will go to the Supreme Court. We will exhaust every possible stage. We are doing (it) transparently and you can examine the law,” he said.

When reminded that he had told Chidambaram, during their one-on-one meeting in Islamabad last year, that India would “not be disappointed” over its request for the voice samples, Malik said he stood by the assurance and New Delhi must understand the fact the Pakistan government was being governed by its Constitution.

Referring to the trial of the seven accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks in a Pakistani court, Malik said: “Delay is there and the delay is not solely because of Pakistan. It is because the incident had happened in a second country”.

Malik said his government has done its best and the investigators produced enough proof against the accused and they are likely to be convicted. — PTI

New Delhi, July 25
On the eve of4 talks between Indo- Pak Foreign Ministers, Home Minister P Chidambaram today said that India cannot take its "eyes of the ball" on the issue of 26/11 terror attacks as Pakistan has "done very little" to bring to justice those behind the carnage.

The Home Minister also ruled out that there was any disconnect between his ministry and Minister of External Affairs over the policy being pursued with Pakistan.

"We support engagement with Pakistan and we should engage them in as many areas as possible...At the same time we emphasise that on the issue of 26/11, we cannot take our eyes off the ball," Chidambaram said.

"We have to keep our focus on 26/11 and unfinished work related to it i.e. to bring perpetrators, handlers and controllers behind these terror attacks to justice. I cannot take my eyes off that ball."

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and newly-appointed Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar will hold day-long talks on Wednesday during which a host of key issues including Jammu and Kashmir, India's concerns over terror, trade, confidence-building measures and steps to enhance people-to-people contacts are expected to be discussed.

It will be preceded by a meeting of Foreign Secretaries of the two countries tomorrow during which the agenda for ministerial meeting will be finalised.

Chidambaram said he has made it clear to his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik that Islamabad is "morally and legally bound to bring the perpetrators, the handlers and the controllers before the court of law." — PTI