ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday summoned a director general (DG) of foreign ministry to brief the court on the efforts the ministry had made with regard to the production of 24 Indian prosecution witnesses in Mumbai attack case.

ATC judge Sohail Ikram ordered the DG of South Asia Desk to appear in court on July 27.

During the hearing, the ATC judge asked the FIA officials about their progress on procuring the attendance of Indian witnesses.

The FIA officials informed the court that they could not directly interact with the Indian High Commission for summoning of witnesses as it was South Asian Desk of the foreign affairs ministry’s job.

Earlier, Pakistan asked India to allow 24 witnesses in the case to appear before ATC in Islamabad in an effort to conclude the trial.

The Indian government was asked to send the witnesses to Pakistan to testify against the seven suspects, including the alleged mastermind, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

The ATC has been trying Lakhvi and the other suspects including Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum since 2009.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2016