ISLAMABAD, March 21: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday admitted for regular hearing a petition filed by the Federal Investigation (FIA) seeking permission to obtain voice samples of seven Pakistani suspects in the Mumbai attacks case.

The FIA petition also requested the court to declare co-accused Fahim Ansar as a proclaimed offender.

The division bench, comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan and Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi, also issued notices to the seven accused.

FIA special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali adopted before the court that they wanted to match the voice samples of the seven suspects with the record provided to the FIA by Indian intelligence agencies.

The Indian agencies had claimed that they intercepted the communication from Pakistan of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jamil, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum giving instructions to the terrorists during the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

According to special prosecutor, the communication was handed over to the FIA by the Indian intelligence agencies in a compact disc (CD) and the FIA needed the voice samples for authentication of the record.

“If the voice samples are ignored, the prosecution cannot establish the guilt of the accused in the offence,” he maintained.

FIA prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar in a related matter also requested the court to declare Fahim Ansari, a co-accused in the Mumbai attacks case, as a proclaimed offender.

He said besides the seven suspects, who are in the custody of the FIA, Ajmal Kasab and Ansari were also wanted in the Mumbai attacks case. The case is pending in an anti-terrorism court of Rawalpindi.

He said Ajmal Kasab was hanged in India in November but Mr Ansari was still living in that country.

According to advocate Azhar, Ansari got terrorist training from the suspects and then went to India to facilitate the attacks. He was arrested and tried by the Indian prosecution but later acquitted for want of evidence, he maintained.

On May 8, 2010, an application seeking issuance of a proclamation against Kasab and Ansari was moved by the FIA before the ATC judge but the court rejected it after it was informed that Kasab and Ansari were facing trials in India.