New Delhi: On Monday, a special court convicted Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist from the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, holding him guilty of most of the 86 charges against him.
But the verdict is ambiguous about the role Pakistan played in the attack. Circumstantial evidence suggests that Kasab and the other terrorists were being guided on the phone by Pakistani handlers, stated Judge M L Tahaliyani. He also added that while the conspiracy does seem to involve Hafiz Saeed, one of the main conspirators of 26/11, who also heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), and Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi, the evidence against them is, again, circumstantial and based on Kasab's confession.
This part of the judgement is likely to find favour in Pakistan, where a separate trial is being conducted of seven alleged masterminds of the attack- a trial that India finds neither convincing nor direct.
So the big question now is, will the architects of 26/11 - Hafiz Saeed, Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi and David Headley - ever be brought to justice?
Despite the evidence given by India in many dossiers, Pakistan continues to shield Saeed and maintains that the evidence is not enough to go after him.
While Lakhvi is under arrest, the court trying him has put off the hearing by a month.
Meanwhile David Headley, whose extensive surveillance of targets helped the nine terrorists carry out the attack, is also unlikely to be ever handed over to India, even though he has confessed to his role in 26/11.
This is because he has struck a plea bargain which guarantees that he will not be sentenced any time soon, in return for cooperating with authorities to unravel the terror network.
Many believe Headley to have been a double agent who went rogue. All that India will get is direct access to him, for questioning.