Thimphu, Jul 25 : Pakistan says its Constitution does not permit taking voice samples of any accused but still it would “exhaust” all possible means to give voice samples of 26/11 suspects to India.
It also says it cannot be alone held responsible for the delay in the trial of Mumbai attack accused in a Rawalpindi court and that India should share the blame for taking almost a year in granting permission to a Pakistani judicial commission to visit India.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said according to the Pakistan Penal Code and the Act of Evidence, the only identification of an accused acceptable was the thumb impression and officially no photograph or voice of any accused can be taken.
“If I give the samples by any other means by recording their voice and send it to India, that will be challenged in Pakistani court and there will be contempt of court on the investigators and prosecutors,” he told PTI in an interview.
Malik said Pakistan government's appeal to allow it to take voice samples of the accused was rejected by a lower court and he had discussed the issue with his Indian counterpart P Chidambaram.
“What is important is to go through the legal channel. So in the first level in the court, it was rejected—that government was not allowed to take samples of voice. Then we moved to the next stage—the higher court.
“The High Court, where we have appealed against the order of the lower court to allow the government to take the samples from the accused enabling us to send it to India,” he said. PTI
