New Delhi, July 25
India today lodged a protest with Pakistan over the repeated adjournments and prolonged delay in taking the Mumbai terror attack case trial to its logical conclusion.

Rudrendra Tandon, Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, summoned Pakistan Deputy High Commissioner Mansoor A Khan to the foreign office and told him that New Delhi attached the highest importance to bringing to justice those responsible in Pakistan for the terror attack in the metropolis on November 26, 2008, in which 166 people were killed. A similar protest was lodged by India’s Deputy High Commissioner Gopal Baglay with Rifat Masood, Director General (South Asia) in the Pakistan Foreign Ministry in Islamabad.

It is learnt that the Indian side sought regular briefings by Islamabad on the progress of the trial and the investigations being conducted by the Pakistani authorities. This is perhaps the first time that New Delhi has sought regular briefings on the trial.

New Delhi’s protest came after a Pakistani anti-terrorism court trying the seven accused in the case adjourned the hearing on Wednesday for the seventh time in a row. The last two hearings in the trial could not take place as the presiding judge was on leave.