ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani court hearing the case against five men allegedly involved in the Mumbai attacks adjourned for more than a month on Saturday without reading out the charges, a defence lawyer said.
Pakistan's prosecution of suspects in the November killings of 166 people in India's financial capital is considered a test of its commitment to eradicate militancy on its soil, and any delay could test its already tense relations with its giant South Asian rival.
The U.S. is watching closely because it considers stability in Pakistan -- and preserving the Muslim nation's general detente with India -- key to the defeat of insurgents in neighbouring Afghanistan.
The delay until Aug. 29 allows some court officials to take vacations, said Shahbaz Rajput, a defence attorney. He said some legal issues also caused the delay, but he could not give details without the court's permission.
Rajput said the court failed to read the charges against the accused -- akin to an indictment -- and that he is still waiting for copies of the list of charges and supporting evidence.
"I was supposed to get that today, but the court today heard arguments from both sides whether to hold the trial in private or in an open court," Rajput said, adding there was no decision on the issue.
Media were not allowed into the anti-terrorism court proceedings, which were held in a maximum security prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Pointing to the case against the five men, Pakistan insists it is doing its part to bring the Mumbai attackers to justice. But Pakistan has rejected Indian demands to extradite the suspects.
India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said Saturday that the country was eager for results.
"We expect the perpetrators of the attacks to be brought to justice. We expect this to be done in a transparent manner and as soon as possible," Prakash said.
One of the five, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, is accused of masterminding the attacks, while the four others acted as facilitators and managed funds and hide-outs used by the attackers, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
He has stressed the case could expand and that Pakistan is seeking other potential suspects.
Indian security forces killed nine of the Mumbai attackers. The only suspect caught alive, Ajmal Kasab, a 21-year-old Pakistani, confessed in an Indian court Monday to taking part.
He linked the attacks to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned militant outfit formed in the 1980s -- with the alleged blessing of Pakistan's intelligence services -- to sow trouble in the disputed Kashmir region.
Indian prosecutors have argued that Kasab's statement was incomplete and accused him of seeking to avoid the death penalty.
In response, Kasab said he was willing to be hanged for his actions. The judge in the Indian case has decided to accept Kasab's confession as evidence, but said the trial will proceed because Kasab did not address all the charges against him.
The Taliban and other militant groups in Pakistan have carried out numerous attacks in its northwest region bordering Afghanistan, forcing the army to carry out operations against them. The military said Saturday it had killed 14 more suspected Taliban fighters in the Swat Valley and surrounding districts in one of those offensives.
Nearby in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, a bullet-riddled body of a man accused by Taliban fighters of acting as a U.S. spy was discovered on a main road, police official Adil Nawaz said.
A note attached to the corpse said: "This is the fate everybody will meet for spying for America."
