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| Pakistan fails to act on Ajmal Kasab’s letter |
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Monday, January 05, 2009
By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The Pakistan government is in a fix as to how to react to the letter written by Ajmal Kasab, the lone Mumbai attacker captured alive by the Indian security forces, wherein he had claimed to be a Pakistani belonging to a Faridkot village and a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative who killed many people on November 26 in Mumbai.
The Indians had provided Kasab’s letter as well as his confessional statement to the Pakistani authorities on December 23, saying he wanted legal assistance from Islamabad before his police remand comes to an end on January 6. The Pakistani foreign office had confirmed receiving Kasab’s letter the same day, saying it was forwarded to the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi by the Indian authorities.
Ten days later, however, the interior ministry and the foreign office circles say they are still examining the letter besides trying to ascertain if Kasab was actually a Pakistani national. The covering letter containing Kasab’s request to Islamabad for legal assistance said that the Mumbai Crime Branch eagerly awaits a response from the Pakistan Consulate General in Delhi before it starts looking for other legal options for Ajmal Amir Kasab.
The covering memo further states, since Ajmal Kasab has already confessed to his crime in the letter dispatched to Pakistani High Commission [in New Delhi], Pakistan should inform the Indian High Commission in Islamabad as early as possible whether or not it wants to provide legal assistance to Kasab. However, interior ministry sources say the National Data Registration Authority (NADRA) does not verify Kasab’s claim of being a Pakistani national as it lacks official data to prove his assertion. But they added that the Pakistani authorities have not yet concluded their investigations into Kasab’s claim and they would respond to his request shortly.
However, the foreign ministry sources in Islamabad do not take Ajmal’s letter or his confessional statement seriously, saying the confessions of a prisoner cannot be treated as ample proof. “The Indian authorities should produce some credible evidence to establish Kasab’s identity since some Indian papers have already reported that Kasab is in fact an Indian national”, said a foreign office source while requesting anonymity. Even otherwise, he added, Kasab’s statement does not amount to admissible proof under any penal code anywhere in the world, including India or Pakistan.
In his confessional statement provided to the Pakistani authorities, which has already appeared in several Indian newspapers, Kasab gave a detailed account of his training, his trainers, his role in the terror strike as well as the role of nine other LT militants in the Mumbai attacks. Kasab has further requested the Pakistani high commission to claim the body of his colleague Abu Ismail who was with him during the operation, and take it for burial to Pakistan. Although Kasab has mentioned about the death of nine other LT operatives, he has specifically written about the death of his fast friend Ismail. Citing Ajmal’s letter, the Mumbai Crime Branch has reportedly written a separate letter to the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi, asking it to claim the bodies of the nine Pakistani nationals. However, the Pakistani authorities have not yet responded to any of these letters.
In his confessional statement which Ajmal Kasab allegedly gave to the Mumbai police and which has already been published by Indian newspapers Hindu and Daily News & Analysis, he has stated: “I had been residing in Faridkot in Okara district of the Pakistani Punjab since my birth and I studied up to class IV in a government school there. In year 2000, however, I left the school and went to stay with my brother in Tohid Abad Mohalla, near Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. I worked as a labourer at various places till 2005, visiting my native place once in a while. In 2005, I had a quarrel with my father. I left home and went to Data Darbar in Lahore, where boys who run away from home are given shelter. The boys are sent to different places for employment”.
The statement added: “One day, a person named Shafiq came there and took me with him. He was from Jehlum and had a catering business. I started working for him for Rs120 per day. Later, my salary was increased to Rs200 a day. I worked with him till 2007. While working with Shafiq, I came in contact with Muzaffar Lal Khan, 22... Since we were not getting enough money, we decided to carry out robbery to make big money. So we quit the job and went to Rawalpindi, where we rented a flat. Afzal had located a house for us to loot... We required some firearms for our mission... While we were in search of firearms, we saw some LT stalls at Raja Bazaar in Rawalpindi on the day of Eidul Azha. We then realised that even if we procured firearms, we would not be able to operate them. Therefore, we decided to join LeT for weapons training.
“We reached the LT office and told a person there we wanted to join the LT. He noted down our names and addresses and told us to come the next day. The next day, there was another person with him. He gave us Rs200 and some receipts. Then he gave us the address of a place called Markaz-e-Toiba, Muridke, and told us to go there. It was a LeT training camp. We went to the place by bus and showed the receipts at the gate of the camp. We were allowed inside... Then we were taken to the actual camp area. Initially, we were selected for a 21-day training course called Daura Aam. From the next day, our training started... After Daura Aam, we were selected for another training programme, which was also for 21 days. We were taken to Mansehra in Buttal village, where we were trained in handling weapons....
“After that, we were told that we will begin the next stage involving advanced training. We were taken to a LT camp in Shaiwai Nala near Muzaffarabad for advanced training... We were then taken to Chela Bandi Pahari area for a training programme, called Daura Khaas, of three months. It involved handling weapons, using hand grenades, rocket launchers and mortars... There were 32 trainees in the camp of whom 16 were selected for a confidential operation by one Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi alias Chacha. But three of them ran away from the camp. Chacha sent the remaining 13 with a person called Kafa to the Muridke camp again. At the Muridke camp, we were taught swimming and made familiar with the life of fishermen at sea. We were given lectures on the working of Indian security agencies. We were shown clippings highlighting atrocities on Muslims in India. After the training, we were allowed to go to our native places. I stayed with my family for seven days. I then went to the LT camp at Muzaffarabad.
“After the training Chacha selected 10 of us and formed five teams of two people each on September 15.... The date fixed for the operation was September 27. However, the operation was cancelled for some reason. We stayed in Karachi till November 23 and then left from Azizabad in Karachi, along with Zaki and Kafa. We were taken to the nearby seashore... We boarded a launch. After travelling for 22 to 25 nautical miles we boarded a bigger launch. Again, after a journey of an hour, we boarded a ship, Al-Huseini, in the deep sea. While boarding the ship, each of us was given a sack containing eight grenades, an AK-47 rifle, 200 cartridges, two magazines and a cell phone.
“Then we started towards the Indian coast. When we reached Indian waters, the crew members of Al-Huseini hijacked an Indian launch. The crew of the launch was shifted to Al-Huseini. We then boarded the launch. An Indian seaman was made to accompany us at gunpoint; he was made to bring us to the Indian coast. After a journey of three days, we reached near Mumbai’s shore. While we were still some distance away from the shore, Ismail and Asadulla killed the Indian seaman in the basement of the launch. Then we boarded an inflatable dinghy and reached Badhwar Park jetty.
“I then went along with Ismail to VT station by taxi. After reaching the hall of the station, we went to the toilet, took out the weapons from our sacks, loaded them, came out of the toilet and started firing indiscriminately at passengers. Suddenly, a police officer opened fire at us. We threw hand grenades towards him and also opened fire at him. Then we went inside the station threatening the commuters and randomly firing at them. We then came out of the railway station searching for a building with a roof. But we did not find one. Therefore, we entered a lane. We entered a building and went upstairs. On the third and fourth floors we searched for hostages but we found that the building was a hospital and not a residential building. We started to come down. That is when policemen started firing at us. We threw grenades at them...
“A bullet hit my hand and my AK-47 fell out of my hand. When I bent to pick it up another bullet hit me on the same hand... Ismail was injured in the firing too. The police removed us from the vehicle and took us to a hospital where I came to know that Ismail had succumbed to injuries. My statement has been read to me and explained in Hindi and it has been correctly recorded”, concludes Ajmal Kasab in his alleged confessional statement published by some Indian newspapers.
A sympathizer of Lashkar-e-Taiba, however, told The News that alleged confessional statement by Ajmal Kasab was cooked up by Indian agencies to defame the LT, which is engaged in legitimate struggle. He said New Delhi attempted to kill two birds with one stone by concocting this statement. One the one hand it wanted to embarrass the Pakistani government and on the other hand it desired to harm Kashmir freedom movement.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
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