Islamabad: For the eighth time, the judge of the anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven Pakistani suspects charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks was changed today as the case was transferred to another court. Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi of the Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad, who had granted bail to Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi - the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind - had been conducting the trial for the last three months. "Today the case has been transferred to the ATC-II Islamabad. The judge of new court will begin the hearing on January 28," prosecution chief Chaudhry Azhar said.

To a question as to why the case was transferred to another court, Azhar, who is also a special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency, said, "A total of 31 cases each have been divided between the ATC-I and ATC-II (Islamabad) by the judicial authorities and the Mumbai case is transferred to the latter". Besides Zaidi, Attiquer Rehman, Shahid Rafique, Malik Muhammad Akram Awan and Pervez Ali Shah were among the judges who remained associated with the Mumbai trial since it began in 2009.