Samjhauta blasts: Ruling reserved on Pakistan woman’s plea

PANCHKULA: The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Panchkula on Monday reserved its final verdict in the 2007 Samjhauta blasts case after a Pakistani national moved an application seeking to record her statement.

The court issued notices to the NIA and four accused — radical right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand, Lokesh Sharma, Kamal Chauhan and Rajender Chaudhary — for March 14, on the plea of Rahila Vakil, who claimed to be the daughter of Muhammad Vakil, one of the Pakistanis killed in the Samjhauta blasts. Vakil moved the special NIA court through her advocate, Momin Malik, and requested the judge to allow her to record her statement.

NIA judge Jagdeep Singh had fixed March 11 for the final verdict in the case on the completion of the trial on March 6. As the application was moved on Monday, the court has fixed March 14 as the next date of hearing.

Advocate Momin Malik told TOI that although the NIA and the Indian government had served summons to 13 Pakistani nationals to record their statements in the case, Rahila had told him they did not receive any kind of summons from the Pakistan government.

Malik, who is representing Rahila in the Railway Claims Tribunal for compensation, said Rahila had sent him an email and therefore he filed an application on her behalf on Monday. Rahila also informed Malik that other eyewitness of the Samjhauta blasts, who are Pakistani nationals, also want to depose before the court in Panchkula.