India is open to considering Pakistan's proposal to form a commission on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that would visit here to record testimony of two key witnesses but will wait for a formal request.
Top government sources said India has no problem in discussing Pakistan's proposal for such an arrangement as New Delhi had already agreed to let its officials depose before a Pakistani court through video-conferencing.
This was conveyed by Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram to his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik when the latter telephoned him on Saturday.
During the conversation, besides the proposal of constituting a commission, both the leaders discussed security issues and the ongoing trial in Pakistan of those accused in the Mumbai attack.
Malik had said that Chidambaram told him that the Pakistani proposal about formation of a commission would be "examined" when it is received.
But, sources said, the proposal from Pakistan on the commission has to be approved by the court of that country conducting the trial of the seven accused of Mumbai attacks, including LeT operative Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, before a request can be sent to New Delhi.
Sources said till the Pakistani court takes a decision any discussion on the issue is premature. India's stand could be formed only after a formal request comes from Islamabad, they felt.
The Pakistani Interior Minister, who held talks with Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal in Islamabad on Saturday, also told reporters that the trial of Lakhvi and six other suspects was "stuck" over the issue of Indian witnesses testifying via video-conferencing as this was not allowed under Pakistani laws.
Though India proposed that the testimony of the two witnesses -- the magistrate who recorded the confessional statement of lone surviving Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab and the police officer who investigated the incident -- should be recorded via video conferencing, Malik said this was not permitted by Pakistani laws.