ISLAMABAD: A commission constituted to examine a boat thought to have been used in the 2008 Mumbai attacks will visit Karachi on Oct 6, a date fixed by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Friday.

Other than examining the boat, which is named Al-Fouz, the commission will also record the testimony of a witness who saw it being seized at the Karachi shipyard.

The boat was allegedly used by the suspects in the Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed and more than 300 were injured, to cross into Indian waters.

The commission consists of an ATC judge, officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the defence counsel and court officials.

There was disagreement earlier over whether the prosecution’s witness should record his statement while standing next to the boat, which is berthed at the Karachi shipyard, or if the boat should somehow be produced before the court so that it is admitted into evidence.

The ATC had dismissed the FIA’s petition to allow the commission to examine the boat, which was then challenged before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The FIA had said the IHC had remanded the case back to the ATC, which provided the prosecution an opportunity to produce evidence to strengthen their case.

According to the FIA’s application, the commission should be permitted to travel to the boat, which should be exhibited as evidence as it was allegedly used to carry the assailants to the seas of Pakistan and India which had led to the attack on Mumbai’s stations, hotels and other locations.

FIA officials maintain that the boat was taken into possession by the investigating officer in the presence of a witness who had identified it as the same one used by the suspects.

They argued that the boat was too large to be produced in court and that the examination of the witness cannot be completed separate from the production of the boat before the court, hence the commission needed to be permitted to travel to see the boat.

The defence counsel opposed the application, saying that the witness had appeared before the court to provide evidence and that his testimony could not be recorded due to faults on the part of the prosecution.

The defence counsel said that his earlier application for opposing the examination of the boat and recording the witnesses’ testimony was allowed, which the ATC had decided against after the FIA sought the IHC’s intervention.

After the IHC’s intervention, the ATC has now directed for the commission to examine the ship and record the testimony of the witness in Karachi on October 6.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2016