26/11: India says Pak's FIA felt evidence was more than enough

In a sharp reaction to terming of the evidence given by it as a "sham" by counsel of seven Pakistani suspects in Mumbai terror attack, India on Tuesday said it was not what was communicated to it by Pakistan -- both at the political level and by its Federal Investigating Agency.

"This doesn't seem to be what has been communicated to India -both at the political level during the recent visit of Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz and also during the meeting of Pakistan's FIA with Indian officials," official sources said in New Delhi. The sources said the FIA officials also shared the evidence available to them with their Indian counterparts and confirmed that the "breadth and expanse" of evidence was more than enough to bring to justice the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attack.

On the fifth anniversary of 26/11 on Tuesday, the sources also said New Delhi hopes that Pakistan will address its demand for an expeditious trial there of the Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed. The new lawyer of the seven Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the incident had on Monday in Islamabad claimed that the evidence provided by India was a "sham".

"The dossiers provided by India is information and not evidence as needed by the court. The evidence provided by India is a sham," Raja Rizwan Abbasi, counsel for Lashkar-e-Tayiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other accused, told a news conference.

Responding to the Pakistani prosecution team's contention that it is satisfied with the evidence and fully confident of securing a conviction, Abbasi said, "That is what the prosecution says and this is what we feel. Only the court will decide."