Kasab confession comes after contradictory statements

Mumbai, Jul 21 (PTI) From "kabool nahin hai" (it is
not acceptable) to "kabool hain" (I plead guilty), Ajmal Amir
Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai terror
attacks, has given a spate of contradictory statements in the
last eight months to hoodwink the investigators.

In his deposition in May, Kasab, who last week turned
22, rubbished the charges against him. "Yeh sab galat hai.
Mujhe kabool nahin hai" ( This is all wrong. These charges are
not acceptable).

"Sir, mujhe mera gunah kabool hai" (I plead guilty to
my crime), he told the special court in Arthur Road jail today
in a complete reversal of his earlier deposition.

His sudden confession came on the 65th day of the
trial that began after a 11,000-page chargesheet was filed in
the case against him in February this year.

Kasab's images were picked up last November by close
circuit television during his attacks at the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus alongwith another terrorist Ismail Khan.

The duo moved on to attack a police vehicle, a white
Toyota Qualis, at Cama Hospital. In the vehicle were
Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, encounter specialist
Vijay Salaskar and additional commissioner of Mumbai police
Ashok Kamte).

After killing them and taking two constables hostage,
Kasab and Khan drove towards Metro cinema. At Chowpatty, they
confronted a barricade and there was exchange of fire when
they tried to reverse. Khan was killed and Kasab taken alive.

In April, Kasab had sought retraction of his earlier
confession to the November 26 attacks saying it was taken
under "duress" by the investigators. The terror strikes had
left 183 dead including 22 foreigners.

"Kasab is a good actor," Special Public Prosecutor
Ujjwal Nikam said adding he was taken by surprise when the
terrorist abruptly decided to confess to the crime.

Attempting everything under the law to wriggle out of
the charges or delay the trial, Kasab initially claimed that
he is a juvenile and said the special court has no
jurisdiction to take up his case.

Documents were produced by the prosecution to state
that Kasab was born on July 13, 1987.

Kasab maintained for long that he was not a Pakistani
but it turned out that he hailed from Faridkot village in the
Okara district of Pakistan's Punjab province.

His father makes a living selling dahi puri while his
elder brother Afzal works as a labourer in Lahore. His elder
sister, Rukaiyya Husain is married in the village. A younger
sister, Suraiyya and a 11-year-old brother, Munir, live with
the parents.

Starting his life as a petty criminal, Kasab was soon
inducted into the Lashkar-e-Taiba getting his training from
the outfit's base camp, Markaz Taiba.

During the court hearings, Kasab, said to be fluent in
English, Hindi, Urdu and now also understands Marathi, has
also pleaded for a Pakistani lawyer to fight his case, a move
seen to delay the proceedings.

At one stage, Kasab requested for an envelope, saying
he wanted to write a letter to Saudi Arabia but had replied in
the negative on being asked whether he had any relatives in
that country.

During a hearing in May, the judge reprimanded Kasab
for smiling when a witness was narrating how assistant
sub-inspector Tukaram Ombale, who had been taken hostage by
the duo, was killed. "I didn't have anything in mind," he had
replied showing no signs of remorse.

At another point, he told the court "I am bored in
jail. I need some books to read".

From the jail, Kasab wrote a three-page letter to the
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi stating that as a
citizen he was entitled to seek legal help from his own
country to fight his case in Indian courts.

Kasab's admission to his own origin and that of his
fellow terrorists came as a major embarrassment to Pakistan
which had dithered about their nationality and refused to
accept that the Mukmbai attacks were plotted and launched from
Pakistani soil.

Seeking a lenient approach from the court, Kasab had
also sought to denigrate LeT. "Bahak gaya tha mein, LeT ke
darindon ne mujhe phansa diya" (I was misled, LeT's devils
trapped me).

"Pure Pakistan ko badnaam kiya hai, Khuda mujhe maaf
karein" (I have tarnished Pakistan's image, may God forgive
me). PTI VMN
PMR
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