A special NIA court, hearing the 2007 Samjhauta train bombing case, has agreed to Pakistan's request for more time to produce 13 of its nationals as witnesses.
The National Investigation Agency's lawyer informed the special court in Panchkula last week about the Pakistan Foreign Office expressing its inability to produce its nationals at short notice, official sources said on Monday.
NIA handed over fresh summons to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) with fresh three dates-- November 29 and 30 and December 1 -- for sending it on to Pakistani authorities, the sources said.
The court had earlier issued summons on March 17 and asked witnesses to appear before it from July 4. Of 299 witnesses, court proceedings for 249 have been completed.
Sixty-eight people were charred to death in the blasts in two coaches of the Samjhauta Express in Panipat on February 18, 2007. The investigators had initially believed activists of the banned SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) were behind the blasts, but later concluded that the attack had been planned by a group with right-wing leanings.
The NIA has filed a charge-sheet against several people, including Swami Aseemanand, who walked free in the Ajmer Dargah blast case earlier this year after prosecution witnesses turned hostile.