Pakistan may ask India for custody of the only gunman to survive the Mumbai attacks to strengthen its prosecution of those behind the assault, Rehman Malik, adviser to the Prime Minister on the interior said on Saturday. "If investigators recommend it and the court asked for him, then definitely we will do that," Rehman told reporters when asked if Pakistan would seek custody of Kasab.
"It's premature but when the name of a person appears in a (police complaint), he is needed in the case ... We will do it when our investigators think he is needed here." Pakistan says six of the eight suspects, including one ringleader, are in custody and two are at large. Malik urged Indian authorities to speed up their investigation and answer 30 questions sent to India by Pakistani investigators to help Pakistan's prosecution case. A lawyer for the suspects said he might file a high court petition against the Pakistani government for failing to produce the suspects before the court.
"Under the law these people should have been produced before the court for a remand within 24 hours of the registration of the complaint against them," lawyer Shahbaz Rajput told reporters outside an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi. The suspects had been expected to appear in the court. "I will consult my clients and after their instructions I may file a petition against the government for keeping them in illegal detention," he said.