Islamabad, August 29
The Pakistan government plans to approach an anti-terror court, conducting the trial of seven suspects in the Mumbai attacks, to form a commission that can visit India to record the statements of key witnesses and officials, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.

“We will request the court to form a commission and that commission can go (to India) and record the statement of witnesses, including the magistrate and police officers who recorded the statement of (Ajmal) Kasab,” Malik told reporters.

Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the November 2008 attacks, has been convicted and sentenced to death by a court in Mumbai.

New Delhi has rejected Islamabad’s request to send Kasab to testify in the anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah.

India has suggested that the magistrate and police officers who recorded Kasab’s confessional statement could testify via video conferencing in the anti-terrorism court.

Malik said the provisions of Pakistani laws allowed the formation of a commission to go to India to record the statements of key witnesses.

“So if India and our court agree to the formation of the commission that is the way forward. We feel this commission is very necessary because some legal issues have cropped up,” Malik told reporters yesterday.

Pakistan wants “clear those legal issues” standing in the way of the trial of the seven suspects, he said. “We mean business. We want our prosecution to be strengthened. Till we can provide them the things needed under the law, the prosecution cannot move forward because we can’t take a short cut with court procedures,” he said.

Malik also said Pakistan is making “every effort” to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and “will offer full cooperation to India”.

The anti-terrorism court is expected to take up the prosecution’s application on allowing Indian witnesses to testify via video conferencing during the next hearing scheduled for September 18.

Defence lawyers have opposed the move, saying it is not permissible under Pakistani laws. “The laws on this issue are not developed in Pakistan. Existing laws cover video conferencing between Pakistani courts and jails and not institutions or persons in foreign countries,” Shahbaz Rajput, one of the defence lawyers, said. — PTI 

Melbourne, August 29
The Liberal party of Tony Abott today raced ahead of the ruling Labor party after its candidate Ken Wyatt today became the first Indigenous person to be elected to the Australian parliament, even as the political deadlock entered the second week.

With the election of the Liberal candidate the party's score in the cliffhanger general elections have gone up to 73 seats, with ruling Labor party winning 72 in the 150-member House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Wyatt became the first Indigenous person to be elected to the House of Representatives after grabbing Perth seat of Hasluck.

Australians voted in the country's first hung parliament in 70 years at the August 21 polls delivering Tony Abbott's Liberal/ National coalition 73 seats and Prime Minister Julia Gillard's centre-left Labor 72, but giving neither the 76 seats needed to rule.

According to an ABC report, Wyatt addressed racist hate mails he had received since the election. "I've had that all my life, growing up as an Aboriginal in the '60s, the '70s and the '80s," he said, adding, "What disappoints me is the work that's been done by Reconciliation Australia, we've certainly moved forward and I've walked with so many great Australians.

"As an ordinary bloke, I've walked with people within our suburbs and our community and to some extent there will be people who have differences of opinion." "Let's move on from that - what's more important is the way in which we move Australia forward and the thinking that we have and the society that we build on," he said.

In congratulating Wyatt, Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop said there was no place for racism within the Liberal party.

"As far as the Liberal party is concerned, racism is totally and absolutely unacceptable," she said. "It's borne out of ignorance and hatred.

Ken will be a role model for all Australians and I have no doubt that some of the ignorance and hatred will was away as he brings his quiet dignity and compassion and wisdom to the Parliament of Australia," she added.

While there is still 8 per cent of the vote to be counted, Wyatt's lead of 984 votes makes it impossible for Labor to hold the seat. Labor's Sharryn Jackson, who has lost and won back the seat before, has not yet conceded defeat. — PTI