The government on Thursday formally announced that it will contest the lawsuit in US court against Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in connection with Mumbai attacks of 2008 through appropriate steps for the dismissal the cases.
"The Government of Pakistan has taken a firm decision to strongly contest the suit filed against the ISI, its present and past Directors General. The Government of Pakistan and the Pakistan Embassy in Washington shall defend the legal suit on behalf of ISI and its Directors General fully and properly," said a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
Though Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had refrained from making a policy statement in the National Assembly, he had clearly stated that no one can compel ISI to appear in US court.
"We do not believe the ISI, as an agency of the Government of Pakistan, or its present and former officials could be subjected to civil litigation in the courts of the United States and we intend to take appropriate steps to obtain dismissal of this action," the statement quoted the PM as saying. A US court in New York had issued summonses of senior ISI officials chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, his predecessor Lt. Gen Nadeem Taj (Retd) along with Hafiz Saeed, the Chief of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in response to a lawsuit by relatives of Americans Rabbi Gavriel Noah and Rivka Holtzberg, killed in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. The lawsuit accused the ISI of aiding and abetting the LeT in the killing of more than 160 people.
The attacks also known as 26/11 had strained the relations between the nuclear armed arch-rivals of the subcontinent and led in suspension of Composite Dialogue, which could not be resumed even in 2010. Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspects - Zarar Shah, Abu al-Qama, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil Riaz, Younas Anjum and Jamil Ahmed are facing a trial in Pakistan.
Islamabad has reiterated its stance on several counts that it is committed to bring the perpetrators of the attacks to justice, however, Indian support was imperative in this connection. Meanwhile, Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit while addressing a weekly press briefing stated that "India should stop using the Mumbai attack or terrorism in general as a propaganda ploy against Pakistan." The dialogue process should not be held hostage to the Mumbai attack trial, he added. "It is only through active co-operation at all levels we can realistically expect to eliminate the menace of terrorism," Basit said.
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