A special court in Mumbai has appointed Abbas Kazmi as the lawyer for Amir Ajmal Qasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the November 26 Mumbai attacks.
This comes a day after Anjali Waghmare, the lawyer appointed for Qasab in the 26/11 case trial was removed after Judge M L Tahiliyani, who's trying the case, ruled there was a conflict of interest.
Referring to Qasab's appeal for a Pakistani lawyer, the judge told the accused that his request was forwarded to Pakistan, but there was no response.
"The government has given a lawyer as there was no response from Pakistan," said the judge.
The trial of the case will now begin on Friday.
Lawyer Anjali Waghmare reportedly had also agreed to defend a potential witness in the case.
"Waghmare had met me after this application was made. First question I asked her was had she seen the witness and she said no," M L Tahiliyani had said while cancelling the appointment of Anjali as Qasab's lawyer on Wednesday.
In his order, Judge ML Tahiliyani said interest of the victim and interest of the accused clashes. He said he is the caretaker for Qasab who is a foreign national and that he has to ensure nothing inappropriate happens to him.
"There will be no delay in the case. A lawyer for Qasab will be fixed in two days," Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam had said.
