Pakistan witness identifies one accused in Mumbai attacks case

A witness on Saturday identified one of seven Pakistani men charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks as the person who had bought inflatable boats used by the terrorists involved in the assault on India’s financial hub.

Prosecutors said the witness, whom they did not name for security reasons, had identified accused Shahid Jamil Riaz during proceedings conducted behind closed doors at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi by anti-terrorism court Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman.

The witness told the judge that Riaz and 10 other people had bought 11 inflatable boats, saying they were to be used for fishing. The witness further told the judge he had never seen these persons returning from sea with any fish.

A total of four private witnesses testified during the hearing.

Another witness told the judge that he had sold the accused a Yamaha boat engine for Rs 1.6 lakh and yet another witness said he had sold the accused six pumps, prosecutors told PTI.

The witnesses also identified 10 men, including Amjad Khan and Atiqur Rehman, who were allegedly involved in planning and executing the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008 that left 166 people dead.

These 10 men were earlier declared “proclaimed offenders” or fugitives by the anti-terrorism court.

“The 10 proclaimed offenders were either trainers or facilitators of the accused who launched the attacks in Mumbai,” chief prosecutor Chaudhry Zulifqar Ali told PTI.

One witness told the court that Amjad Khan had obtained from him a “port clearance certificate” for Al-Hussaini, a fishing boat used by the terrorists.

Amjad Khan was also involved in purchasing the inflatable boats, another witness said.

Though Chief prosecutor Ali identified the four private witnesses as Hamza Bin Tariq, Muhammad Ali, Mohammad Saifullah Khan and Umer Draz Khan, he refused to go into details of their individual testimony for security reasons. All the witnesses belong to the port city of Karachi.

Additional Director Altaf Hussain of the Federal Investigation Agency, who played a key role in probing the Mumbai attacks, was present during the hearing but the judge did not allow him to testify as a defence lawyer argued that Hussain should record his statement after the private witnesses.

Prosecutors said the cross—examination of the four private witnesses could not be conducted as the main defence lawyers did not attend the hearing.

In the past too, the defence lawyers have held up proceedings by exploiting legal loopholes and posing hurdles for the proceedings, officials said.

The judge adjourned the case till April 27, when the four witnesses are expected to be cross—examined.

“The witnesses protested against being summoned for the next hearing as it will result in a lot of expenses for them.

They demanded an allowance for travelling back to Rawalpindi from Karachi,” chief prosecutor Ali said.

Amjad Khan, the fugitive identified by the witnesses, is a shadowy LeT organiser and financier from Karachi who figured in a majority of dossiers provided to Pakistan by India.

Khan, who hails from Multan, played a key role in arranging and providing funds to the ten terrorists who attacked Mumbai.

Khan is one of 20 suspects in the Mumbai attacks who are yet to be traced by Pakistani investigators.

These 20 suspects were named in a chargesheet filed in the anti-terrorism court in 2009. They were all accused of playing a key role in facilitating the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistani authorities have so far arrested seven suspects, including LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. They have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks.

Their trial has progressed at a snail’s pace due to repeated adjournments and various technical delays.

Nine of the terrorists involved in the attack were killed by Indian security forces.

The only surviving attacker, Ajmal Kasab, was hanged in Pune jail on November 21 last year.

#Kamal Haasan to release #Vishwaroopam-2 this year

Actor and director Kamal Haasan said Saturday his next production Vishwaroopam-2 will be launched in a few days and release this year.

Speaking to reporters here at a meet organised by Raj Kamal Enterprises, along with film distributor HD Gangaraj, Kamal Haasan said he would ensure that there will be no delay in the release of the new film as he has been making preparations in right earnestness.

The actor said that many Tamil film personalities advised him to continue making films at least once a year.

Haasan also announced that he has also been involved in another script titled Moo.

The actor’s latest espionage thriller Vishwaroopam ran into trouble after some Muslim groups sought certain modifications. The actor agreed for the changes before its release Feb 7.

The Rs95 crore film narrates the story of a Muslim Indian agent living in the US in disguise, on a secret assignment to stop a probable terror attack. It stars Kamal Haasan, Pooja Kumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Shekhar Kapur, Rahul Bose and Jaideep Ahlawat.

“My fans in Tamil Nadu are overwhelmingly supporting my movie and it has already been talked as my biggest carrier hit after it opened with a humongous response for three days,” he said.

“Now, that the Tamil version of Vishwaroopam has been released in Tamil Nadu, I am happy that I will not be questioned by my brother and co-producer Chandra Haasan,” said the actor, indicating that the film may collect nearly Rs100 crore.

Muslims need to choose their battles

From Vishwaroopam to Kashmir rock band, India’s Muslims are forever battling shadows

Sometime back in these columns I had argued that if Islam were to sue for libel, many of its followers would find themselves in the dock. No faith has suffered as much as it has at the hands of its own overzealous followers. Bernard Shaw got it about right when he suggested that Islam is the best religion and Muslims are the worst followers. No day passes without the fervent faithful putting the religion in unforgiving global glare with their actions.

If it is not some crackpot blowing himself up with fellow believers right when they are in the presence of their God, it’s some self-anointed defender of the faith declaring who in his expert opinion has stepped beyond the pale of Islam. Without troubling the Ultimate Judge, they even decide right here and right now who gets to go to hell.

Indeed, if it were up to them, they would dispatch everyone right away to damnation. All this of course is done with complete sincerity and conviction believing in the justness of their cause. The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions.

Lucknow Muslims against Vishwaroopam movie.

From the wild heart of Asia to the unpredictable Middle East to the edge of untamed Africa, this willful distortion and misrepresentation of Islam and its teachings and spirit has not only lost its shock value for everyone, including the faithful, it’s acquiring increasingly absurd and frightening proportions.

And this is in no way inferior or less dangerous than the kind of Western wars and ideological crusade against Islam that we have lately seen, especially over the past decade or so. In fact, they appear to be aiding and abetting and providing the fig leaf of an excuse to each other.

So if Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam unabashedly apes Hollywood and taps into the First world narrative of Islamophobia, painting all Muslims as crazed followers of Al-Qaeda and a threat to the world peace and civilized world, those threatening him with dire consequences for the movie wittingly or unwittingly end up justifying his message.

It must be said though that all protests against the movie in Tamil Nadu were totally peaceful. That didn’t however prevent the increasingly shrill Indian media from once again launching into a diatribe, screaming about a grave threat to free speech and the nation’s great democratic traditions. Excuse me but do not the same democratic traditions and the freedom of speech, include the right to protest peacefully and register one’s disagreement?

And it’s not Muslim groups but the TN government that prevented the film’s screening because of Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s own issues with Haasan. The movie has been running in the rest of India, including in several neighboring states without any incident. But those who have watched the film suggest that the outrage over the movie is justified. It’s an endless and predictable harangue against Islam and a paean to Uncle Sam’s global war.

I don’t believe Haasan is communal. One of the finest actors India has produced, the star is widely regarded for his sensitive portrayals in films that have enriched Indian cinema.

However, as Feroze Mithiborwala says in his brilliant Tehelka piece, the actor is being far from honest when he claims Vishwaroopam is his “tribute to Muslims” and that it would make them proud. The film actually reinforces communal stereotypes and justifies the empire and its hegemonic wars and occupation “in ways that even Hollywood would have felt ashamed of portraying.”

The message propagated all through, in Feroze’s words, is basically this: “One Good Muslim, All the Rest Bad Muslims.” The hero, a closet Muslim and a RAW agent, is a noble exception who saves the world while the rest of the Muslims are all committed to destruction and mayhem driven by their faith. Muslims are furiously praying while bombs go off all around them. The Quranic verses are recited in the background while machine guns are turned on defenseless women and children by the followers of a menacing, one-eyed Mullah Omar-type lunatic. There’s no mention whatsoever of what the Afghans have been through at the hands of their Western liberators.

That said though demanding a ban on such movies and books is no solution. It’s counterproductive and ends up earning them greater attention and hype as has been the case with numerous Hollywood and Bollywood flicks, Danish cartoons and Rushdie’s infamous book. And taking to the streets over every slight and slur–real or imagined–actually plays into the hands of the ever voracious, insensitive media and forces that can hardly be described as our friends or sympathizers.

In the past few weeks or so, not a single day has gone without the television pundits furiously debating about some Muslim issue or the other. If it’s not about the largely isolated demonstration against Vishwaroopam, it’s about some little-known outfit protesting against Rushdie’s visit to Calcutta. And then there was this absurd row over an all-girl rock band from Kashmir in the news with a fatwa promptly declaring it ‘un-Islamic.’

Not surprisingly, it’s not just the insufferable Arnab Goswami who had a field day; everyone else joined the fun, gravely speechifying about “our growing intolerance” and the creeping Taliban rule in Kashmir under Indian constitution. There was more bedlam when the nervous band of teenagers that calls itself, Pragaash (From Darkness to Light), clearly drawing on the Islamic imagery, decided to call it quits.

Frankly, I fail to see what the fuss is all about, especially when the young girls, in their early teens, observe hijab and have done nothing that violates Islamic traditions. Not only does Kashmir boast a hoary tradition of music and singing, especially by women, men and women sing and dance across the Arab and Muslim world on festive occasions and even otherwise. Women sang to encourage their men at the time of wars, including in those that were led by the Prophet, peace be upon him. He would make Hassan bin Sabit, the legendary poet, recite poetry right in Masjide Nabavi, the Prophet’s mosque.

So why are we constantly chasing chimeras and tilting at the windmills? Why do we for goodness sake see a threat to Islam everywhere? Is our faith so fragile and feeble that it cannot withstand a minor idle pursuit here or criticism there? Don’t we know how much abuse the Prophet himself silently suffered at the hands of his legion of enemies?

Islam is far more robust and tenacious than our insecurities. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be the fastest spreading religion today despite our own conduct and efforts and all the conspiracies and canard against it. More important, why are we battling shadows, ignoring our real issues and concerns? As a people, we have developed a rare talent for obsessing over the irrelevant and inconsequential.

As Amartya Sen so rightly put it commenting on the protests over Vishwaroopam and Rushdie, India’s Muslims have far larger problems facing them–from poverty, health and sanitation to food and education. And this is not a state of affairs that is limited to India. Indeed, elsewhere the community confronts fiercer demons.

Isn’t it about time we got our priorities and focus right? We cannot forever remain locked in a perpetual state of war, bleeding ourselves to death. We have to choose our battles. Every time we get bogged down in such minor irritations and irrelevancies, we let our adversaries win.

Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Gulf based writer. Email him at aijaz.syed@hotmail.com

Indian arms orders cross USD 7 billion mark in 2012: Russian Arms Exporter

The overall value of Indian defence orders placed with Russia has crossed USD 7 billion mark in 2012 and the outlook for current year is even more optimistic, Viktor Komardin, Chief of the delegation of ‘Rosoboronexport’ at Aero India 2013 aerospace show in Bangalore today said. The 9th Aero India show is scheduled for February 6-11.

Currently ‘Rosoboronexport’ is actively negotiating contracts for the modernisation of anti-submarine helicopters Kamov Ka-28 and Sukhoi Su-30MKI and supply of Mil Mi-17B-5 helicopters for Indian Home Ministry. Russia is also in the fray for the sale of refueller aircraft for the Indian Air Force.

Saudi fighter jets help US in anti-al-Qaeda drone war in Yemen – report

 

Predator drone (Reuters / Handout)

Saudi Arabia has assisted the US in its “secret war” against Al-Qaeda members in Yemen, an English newspaper reports. The Times claims the Saudi Air Force provided fighter jets for so-called drone missions in the Arabian Peninsula.

­“Some of the so-called drone missions are actually Saudi Air Force missions,” the newspaper cited a US intelligence official, whose name was not given in the report.

The Times claims that 228 people were killed by covert attacks last year in Yemen, the home of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The disclosure may now stir more criticism against US activity in Yemen as well as provoke questions about the lawfulness of America’s covert drone campaign against Al-Qaeda.

The US escalated drone strikes in the region under a policy, requested by CIA and adopted by the Obama Administration in April. The so-called “signature strikes” eventually allows launching strikes against terrorist targets even if the identities of the suspects are unknown.

The newspaper states that Washington considers the stealthy area war in Yemen, personally overseen by the President Obama, “is a new model for US intervention abroad”.

It also points out that the legal problems triggered by the capture and further detention of enemy combatants in Guantanamo Bay, has “become so onerous that the Pentagon has recast its orders.”

“There is no kill or capture anymore. It’s kill or kill,” a US official told The Times.

In the meantime, a recent report by the Washington-based think tank New America Foundation showed the number of American airstrikes in Yemen, largely carried out by unmanned drones, has tripled in frequency in comparison with 2011 and for the first time outnumbered such strikes in Pakistan.

But in contrast to those in Pakistan, drone strikes in Yemen take place with the government’s permission.

Yemen’s president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who took power last February in the wake of an uprising against former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, publically welcomed US strikes, praising them as key tool in the battle against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Unlike his predecessor, who denied the fact of US drone strikes in the country, Hadi stresses that he personally authorizes every attack.

Even if Yemen’s new president has backed them, American drone strikes remain deeply controversial and are not popular among the Yemeni people.

Despite the increase in drone strikes, the group’s core leadership has survived. Critics point to cases of innocent civilian casualties which have become more frequent as well as drone attacks under the “signature strikes” policy.

While US the claims the number of innocent victims has been minimal, independent studies prove the opposite.

Since the adoption of the expanded policy, the US has targeted buildings, vehicles and people relying on so-called activity patterns from satellites and insiders.

Since these drone attacks are done without public oversight, it makes it impossible to know the actual number of civilian casualties.

According to data from the Long War Journal, at least 35 civilians have been killed in the attacks in the last 12 months.

Moreover, the US does not have to disclose information about civilian casualties even when it’s American citizens being killed abroad.

On Wednesday a federal judge ruled the US Justice Department does not have a legal obligation to explain the rationale behind killing Americans with targeted drone strikes.

Since 2009 bombings by remote-controlled US drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia have tripled, bringing the number to 300, Reuters reports. For comparison, during the entire Bush administration, there were just 51.

 

WikiLeaks to release over a million new docs in 2013 – Assange

Despite all the difficulties the WikiLeaks faced in 2012, Julian Assange vowed to publish some 1,000,000 new documents in the coming year.

In his Christmas speech he called for people to continue fighting for democracy “from Tahrir to London.”

he cyber world is abuzz with speculation about possible topics of an upcoming speech by the WikiLeaks founder. Julian Assange is due to appear on a low-level balcony of London’s Ecuadorian Embassy at 19:00 Thursday to deliver his Christmas speech.

Not much is known about the subject of Assange’s address, but he recently confirmed intentions to run as a candidate for the Australian Senate in 2013.

Speculation is also rife that he will use the occasion to officially launch a WikiLeaks political party.

WikiLeaks’ Twitter has taken on a festive spirit ahead of the Australian’s public appearance, tweeting, “Julian Assange to give Xmas speech at Ecuador Embassy. Bring candles & come enjoy some mulled wine!”

UK ‘Donates’ $825,000 to Osama’s Right-Hand Man in Europe

Will Abu Qatada remain in the UK?

Radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada who used to be considered Osama bin Laden’s ‘right hand’ in Europe has received 515,000 pounds ($825,000) financial aid from the British Ministry of Finance for legal expenses in the trial for the right to remain in the UK.

Jordan demands his extradition because he has been sentenced to life imprisonment there for organizing several terrorist acts.

51-year-old Abu Qatada arrived in the UK in 1993 with a fake passport. After his arrest without any charges in 2002, Qatada spent about 7 years in a British prison.

 

All women’s prison in Goa soon

Goa will soon have a prison exclusively for women convicts and undertrials, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Porvorim, D’Souza said the move was in sync with prison reforms and added that efforts would be made to ensure that young criminals and undertrials would be kept away from hardened criminals in Goa’s prisons.

“The Aguada central jail will soon be dedicated to women only. The move is based on recommendations made vis-a-vis judicial reforms. All women undertrials and prisoners from other prisons in Goa would be shifted there,” D’Souza said.

The Aguada jail, located 20 km from here, is one of the oldest prisons in the country and is housed in a 17th century fort which overlooks the Arabian Sea and the most popular beach stretch in the state, Calangute-Baga stretch.

The jail once used to house freedom fighters, who were arrested over the years before 1961 protesting against the colonial Portuguese regime.

D’Souza also said a move to segregate young criminals and undertrials aged between 18 and 21 from hardened criminals had been started by the government and a dedicated jail had been identified for it.

“The Mapusa sub jail will only have these young boys, who often get mixed with hardened criminals and ruin their lives further. This segregation will only enhance the efforts of correcting them,” he said.

There are nearly 500 undertrials and prisoners in Goa’s three major prisons.

IANS

In The NEWS : Ajmal Amir Kajab

Photograph of Ajmal Kasab, one of the ten terrorists involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks at the Victoria Terminus station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Timeline: Ajmal Kasab’s journey to the noose

The following is the chronology of events in 26/11 terror attack case in which the Supreme Court (SC) today upheld the death sentence of lone Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab:

Nov 26, 2008: Kasab and 9 terrorists launched acommando raid in Mumbai.

Nov 27, 2008: At 1.30am, Kasab caught and placed under arrest, admitted to Nair Hospital.

Nov 29, 2008: All places under siege secured, 9 terrorists were killed.

Nov 30, 2008: Kasab confesses before police.

Dec 27/28, 2008: An identification parade was held.

Jan 13, 2009: ML Tahaliyani was appointed the 26/11 judge.

Jan 16, 2009: Arthur Road Jail was selected for Kasab’s trial.

Feb 5, 2009: Kasab’s DNA samples match with articles found in Kuber.

Feb 20/21, 2009: Kasab made a confession before the magistrate.

Feb 22, 2009: Ujjwal Nikam was appointed special public prosecutor.

Feb 25, 2009: A charge sheet against Kasab, two others were filed in court.

Apr 1, 2009: Anjali Waghmare was appointed Kasab’s lawyer.

Apr 15, 2009: Anjali Waghmare was removed as Kasab’s lawyer.

Apr 16, 2009: Abbas Kazmi was appointed as Kasab’s lawyer.

Apr 17, 2009: Kasab’s confession was opened in court, he retracted.

Apr 20, 2009: The prosecution charged Kasab on 312 counts.

Apr 29, 2009: Experts opined that Kasab was major, .

May 6, 2009: Charges were framed, Kasab charged on 86 counts, but he denied the charges.

May 8, 2009: The first eyewitness deposed and identified Kasab.

June 23, 2009: Non-bailable warrants issued were against 22 including Hafeez Saeed, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

Nov 30, 2009: Abbas Kazmi was removed as Kasab’s lawyer

Dec 1, 2009: KP Pawar took the place of Kazmi.

Dec 16, 2009: The prosecution completed its case in 26/11.

Dec 18, 2009: Kasab denied all charges.

March 31, 2010: The arguments in the case end. Special Judge ML Tahaliyani reserves judgment for May 3, 2010.

May 3, 2010: Kasab was convicted, Sabauddin Ahmed and Faheem Ansari were acquitted of all charges.

May 6, 2010: Kasab was sentenced to death by the trial court.

Feb 21, 2011: The Bombay High Court upheld the death sentence to Kasab.

March 2011: Kasab wrote a letter to the SC challenging the HC order.

Oct 10, 2011: The SC stayed the execution of the death sentence awarded to the Pakistani terrorist

Oct 10, 2011: Kasab told the SC that he was brainwashed like a “robot” into committing the heinous crime in the name of “God” and that he did not deserve capital punishment owing to his young age.

Oct 18, 2011: The Supreme Court admited the Maharashtra government’s appeal challenging the acquittal of Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, co-accused of Ajmal Kasab, in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

Jan 31, 2012: Kasab told the SC that he was not given a free and fair trial in the case.

Feb 23, 2012: The SC heard intercepted conversations between the perpetrators of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and their Pakistani handlers and watched the CCTV footage of the carnage.

Apr 25, 2012: The SC reserves its verdict after a marathon hearing, spanning over two and a half months.

Aug 29, 2012: The SC upheld the death sentence of Kasab and the acquittal of two alleged Indian co-conspirators in the case.

Kasab’s was a unique case: ATS chief Maria

Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria on Wednesday said that the trial and sentencing of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab was culmination of a “unique” investigation, and a daunting task accomplished by various agencies.

“It was a unique investigation in which 657 witnesses were examined and investigating agencies from all over the world were involved,” he said, reacting to the Supreme Court ruling upholding the death sentence for Kasab.

The investigation was challenging, Maria said, as the conspiracy had been hatched on the foreign soil and the terrorists were well-equipped. The ATS was still hunting for the remaining accused, most of whom were in Pakistan, he said.

He thanked various departments of Mumbai police, forensic department and special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam for their efforts.

Referring to the probe of low-intensity blasts in Pune on August 1, Maria said ATS would try to get a break-through in the case before the Ganesh festival as directed by the state government. The investigation in the J M Road blast was making a good progress, he added.

Vociferous demand to execute Ajmal Kasab at the earliest

The Supreme Court verdict upholding the death sentence of Ajmal Kasab in 26/11 Mumbai attacks case on Wednesday led to a vociferous demand for execution of the Pakistani terrorist at the earliest from parties, kin of the victims and other quarters in the country.

Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said government, on its part, will ensure that if Kasab files a mercy plea, it is disposed of in minimum time and asked Pakistan to punish other perpetrators who have taken shelter on its soil.

“…Now, he should be given complete sentence quickly. Punishment should be executed quickly,” Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said reacting to the Supreme Court verdict on Kasab’s appeal against his conviction and sentence.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “Those who wage war against the country and kill innocents deserve no mercy…. Kasab should be hanged without any delay … enough of ‘biryani’ for him.”

Describing Pakistan as “a terror factory”, he said the government “must take all steps to destroy” terror infrastructure and sought a separate set of laws to deal with terror-related cases.

“No leniency should be shown against this kind of a terrorist. They have tried to destroy the peace of the nation, so he (Kasab) should be hanged as fast as possible,” Naqvi said.

Welcoming the verdict, the ruling Congress also favoured quick execution of Kasab.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid described the judgement as “inevitable” and rejected suggestions of delay in the final verdict saying a country governed by rule of law cannot mete out street justice.

“I had seen the Bombay High Court judgement. It was very, very complicated judgement for the judiciary to have given. They must have worked very hard on it. That’s been upheld by the Supreme Court. I think most people who do analysis of law would say this was an inevitable endorsement that would have come,” he told reporters in Delhi.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who led the case against Kasab during the trial process, said the death sentence awarded to Kasab should be executed as soon as possible so that it gives a strong signal to the terrorists that law takes stern action against such acts.

He also demanded that he prosecution against perpetrators of the 2008 terror strikes should now be expedited by the prosecuting agency of Pakistan, he said.

“The (prosecution in Pakistan) should not delay the trial on the ground that India has to furnish evidence because conspiracy behind the terror attacks was hatched in Pakistan and it is for them to prove the same,” Nikam said, adding the apex court in India has also held that criminal conspiracy behind the attacks was hatched in Pakistan.

Eknath Ombale, the brother of assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Ombale who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 terror attacks, said if Afzal Guru had been hanged 10 years ago, then 26/11 and 13/7 incidents would not have happened.

“We are very happy with the verdict. We are now waiting for it to be implemented,” he said.

“The truth has come out before the world. I request the government to implement the sentence,” he mentioned.

“Had Afzal Guru been hanged 10 years ago, maybe 26/11 and 13/7 wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

“All Indians are awaiting the moment when Kasab will be hanged,” Ombale said.

Kasab clever & shrewd, kills without a twinge of conscience: SC

ajmal-amir-kasab-photo-terrorist-going-to-be-hanged-image-india-attacked.jpg copy (Photo credit: Shekhar_Sahu)

Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab is “quite clever and shrewd” and killed without “the slightest twinge of conscience” said the Supreme Court today, dismissing his plea for leniency on purported ground that he was brain washed by Lashkar-e-Toiba and acted like a robot.

“We are unable to accept the submission that the appellant was a mere tool in the hands of the Lashkar-e-Toiba. He joined the Lashkar-e-Toiba around December 2007 and continued as its member till the end, despite a number of opportunities to leave it.

This shows his clear and unmistakable intention to be a part of the organisation and participate in its designs,” said a bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam.

“It is true that he is not educated but he is a very good and quick learner, has a tough mind and strong determination. He is also quite clever and shrewd,” it further said.

The court said Kasab has many times described himself as a patriotic Pakistani and has no remorse for waging war against India.

“Even after his arrest, he regarded himself as a ‘watan parast,’ a patriotic Pakistani at war with this country. Where is the question of his being brain-washed or acting under remote control? We completely disagree that the appellant was acting like an automaton. During the past months while we lived through this case, we have been able to make a fair assessment of the appellant’s personality,” the bench said.

“Unfortunately, he is wholly remorseless and any feeling of pity is unknown to him. He kills without the slightest twinge of conscience,” the bench said.

Kasab verdict an important milestone: Crime Branch

The Mumbai Crime Branch, which probed the 26/11 terror attack case, has termed as the “important milestone” the Supreme Court verdict upholding death sentence of Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab.

“The Supreme Court’s judgement is an important milestone in fight against terrorism,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy told a press conference.

On the role of Pakistan, the crime branch chief said, “Abu Jundal’s interrogation further reveals role of Pakistan in exporting terror to our country and his links with LeT”.

Jundal, suspected to be one of the key 26/11 handlers, was deported to India by Saudi Arabia and is currently in the police custody in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.

“Crime Brnach is collecting very strong evidence against Jundal,” Roy said.

“Those martyrs who laid down their lives to nab Kasab should be given a tribute today,” he said.

“Without them (martyrs) nabbing Kasab and his conviction would not have been possible and those behind the terror strikes exposed,” Roy said.

SOURCE : PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

 

 

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