Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab
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Kasab in the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus during
the 2008 Mumbai attacks
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Born
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13th September,1987
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Birth Place
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Faridkot, Okara, Punjab, Pakistan
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Age
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24
Years
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Motive
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Murder
Conspiracy Waging war on India Possessing explosives |
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Penalty
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Status
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Introduction
@
Mohammed Ajmal Amir
Kasab is a Pakistani militant who was
involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks in
India. Kasab is the only attacker captured alive by police and is currently
in Indian custody. The Government of Pakistan initially denied that Kasab was from
Pakistan, but in January 2009, they officially accepted that he is a
Pakistani citizen.
@ On 3 May 2010, an Indian court convicted him of
murder, waging war on India, possessing explosives, and other charges. On
6 May 2010, the same trial court sentenced him to death on four counts and to a
life sentence on five other counts. Kasab has been sentenced to death for
attacking Mumbai and killing 166 people on 26 November 2008 along with nine
terrorists. He was found guilty of 80 offences, including waging war against
the nation, which is punishable by the death penalty. Kasab's death
sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court on 21 February
2011.
Background
@ Kasab
was born in Faridkot village in the Okara District of Punjab, Pakistan, to Amir
Shahban Kasab and Noor Illahi. His father is a dahi-puri vendor 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 brother, Munir, live in Faridkot with their
parents. The family belongs to the Qassab community.
@ According
to reports, the village of Faridkot is quite impoverished and isolated, despite
being close to a larger town, Depalpur, Pakistan. On the side of a building,
just outside Faridkot, graffiti in large lettering says, in Urdu, "Go for
jihad. Go for jihad. “Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad” is the parent organisation of
Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Early
Life
@ Kasab
briefly joined his brother in Lahore and then returned to Faridkot. He left
home after a fight with his father in 2005. He had asked for new clothes on
Eid, but his father could not provide them, which made him angry. He then
became involved in petty crime with his friend Muzaffar Lal Khan, soon moving
on to armed robbery.
@ On
21 December 2007, Eid al-adha, they were in Rawalpindi trying to buy weapons
when they encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of
Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets. After a brief chat, they decided to
sign up for training with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, ending up at their base camp,
Markaz Taiba.
@ Initial
reports offered a conflicting view of Kasab as fluent in English, and from a
middle class background. However, an interrogator and deputy commissioner of
the Mumbai Police stated that he spoke rough Hindi and barely any English.
@ Some sources said his father asked him to join
Lashkar-e-Taiba so that he could use the money they gave him to run the family.
When asked about this, Kasab's father told reporters, "I don't sell my
sons." Villagers of Okara claimed on camera that he was at their village
six months before the Mumbai attack. They said that he asked his mother to
bless him as he was going for Jihad, and claimed that he demonstrated his
wrestling skills to a few village boys that day.
Training
This
batch of 26 went through the following stages of training:
@ Psychological:
Indoctrination to Islamist propaganda, including compiled footage of Indian
atrocities in Jammu & Kashmir and imagery of atrocities suffered by Muslims
in India, Chechnya, Palestine and across the globe.
@ Basic Combat:
Lashkar's basic combat training and terror methodology course, the Daura Aam.
@ Advanced Training:
Selected to undergo advanced combat training at a camp near Mansehra, a course
the organisation calls the Daura Khaas. This includes advanced weapons and
explosives training supervised by retired personnel of the Pakistan Army, along
with survival training and further indoctrination.
@ Commando Training:
Finally, an even smaller group selected for specialised commando tactics
training and marine navigation training given to the Fedayeen unit selected in
order to target Mumbai. From the batch of 25, 10 were handpicked for the Mumbai
mission.
@ They
also received training in swimming and sailing, besides the use of high-end
weapons and explosives under the supervision of LET commanders.
Involvement in 2008 Mumbai attacks
@ Kasab
was captured on CCTV during his attacks at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus along
with another terrorist, Ismail Khan. Kasab reportedly told the police that they
wanted to replicate the Islamabad Marriott hotel attack, and reduce the Taj
Hotel to rubble, replicating the 9/11 attacks in India.
@ Kasab
and his accomplice Abu Dera Ismail Khan, age 25, attacked the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station. They then moved
on to attack the police vehicle (a white Toyota Qualis) at Cama Hospital, in
which senior Mumbai police officers (Maharashtra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare,
encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner of Mumbai
Police Ashok Kamte) were travelling.
@ After killing them in a gun battle and taking
two constables hostage in the Qualis, Kasab and Ismail Khan drove towards Metro
cinema. Kasab joked about the bulletproof vests worn by the police and killed
one constable when his mobile phone rang. They fired some shots into a crowd
gathered at Metro Cinema.
@ They
then drove towards Vidhan Bhavan where they fired a few more shots. Their
vehicle had a tire puncture, so they stole a silver Škoda Laura and drove
towards Girgaum Chowpatty.
@ Earlier,
the D B Marg police had got a message from police control at about 10 pm;
saying that two heavily armed men were at large after gunning down commuters at
CST. 15 policemen from D B Marg were sent to Chowpatty where they set up a
double barricade on Marine Drive armed with two self-loading rifles (SLRs), two
revolvers and lathis (batons).
@ The
Škoda reached Chowpatty and halted 40 to 50 feet from the barricade. It then
reversed and tried to make a U-turn. A shootout ensued and Ismail Khan was
killed.
@ Kasab
lay motionless playing dead. Assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Omble, who was
armed only with a lathi, was killed when the police charged the car. Omble took
five bullets, but held on to Kasab's weapon, enabling his colleagues to capture
him alive. A mob gathered and attacked the two terrorists. This incident was
captured on video.
@ Some
reports said that Ajmal Kasab was shot and had bullet wounds in his hand or
both hands. There are other reports by doctors who treated him that he had no
bullet wounds.
@ While
it is reported that he told the police that he was trained to "kill to the
last breath", when he was arrested, he pleaded with the medical staff:
"I do not want to die. Put me on saline". Later, after interrogation
in the hospital by the police, he said: "Now, I do not want to live",
requesting the interrogators to kill him for the safety of his family in
Pakistan who could be killed or tortured for his surrender to Indian police.
@ Fidayeen
suicide squad terrorists are strictly instructed by Lashkar commanders not to
be captured and interrogated, use aliases instead of their real names and hide
their nationality. He is also quoted as saying "I have done right, I have
no regrets". Reports also surfaced that the group planned to escape safely
after the attack, ruling out this being a suicide mission.
@ Kasab
has told interrogators that right through the fighting, the Lashkar
headquarters from Karachi, Pakistan, remained in touch with the group, calling
their phones through a voice-over-internet service.
@ Investigators
have succeeded in reconstructing the group's journey through the Garmin GPS set
that has been seized from him. The mail sent from a bogus group calling itself
the Deccan Mujahideen claiming responsibility has been traced to a Russian
proxy which was then traced back to Lahore with the help of the FBI. It was in
fact the Lashkar-e-Taiba operating under an alternate name after being banned
by U.S.
Confessions
@ Kasab
was caught at Girgaum Chowpatty Naka in Mumbai trying to escape in a car and
taken to the Nair hospital. According to preliminary investigations by intelligence
agencies, Ajmal Kasab is from Faridkot in Pakistan and had received arms
training in Pakistan.
@ Ammunition, a satellite phone and a layout
plan of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was recovered from him. He has provided
many clues to the investigation agencies and has reportedly described how they
arrived at Mumbai from Karachi via Porbandar. He has reportedly said that he
and other terrorists had received revolvers, AK-47s, ammunition and dried fruit
from their coordinator.
@ Kasab
reportedly told the police that they wanted to replicate the Marriott hotel
attack in Islamabad, and reduce the Taj Hotel to rubble, replicating the 11
September attacks in US. Kasab also told Indian police that the terrorists
targeted Nariman House, where the Chabad center was located, because it was
frequented by Israelis, who were targeted to "avenge atrocities on
Palestinians."
@ Mumbai
Joint Police Commissioner of Crime, Rakesh Maria said information came out from
his interview with Kasab that he is from the Faridkot village in the Okara
district of Pakistan's Punjab province. He is the son of Mohammed Amir Kasab.
Pakistani authorities repeatedly said there was no evidence of such a person in
Pakistan. But reporters have visited the village near Deepalpur, in Okara
district, and identified the parents as named by Mumbai police.
@ Villagers have confirmed that he indeed lived
there. On the night of 3 December 2008, the parents were whisked away by a
bearded Mullah, and since then, there was evidence of a cover-up by
plainclothes police. Villagers changed their stories, and reporters who visit
there are now being intimidated.
@ It
is reported that Kasab told the police that he and his associate, Ismail Khan,
were the ones who shot Anti-Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare, encounter
specialist Vijay Salaskar and Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte.
@ According
to the police, Kasab entered the Taj posing as a student from Mauritius and had
stored explosives in one of the hotel's rooms.
In December 2009, Kasab retracted
his confession in court, claiming he had come to Mumbai to act in Bollywood
films and was arrested by the Mumbai police three days before the attacks.
@ He
repeatedly asked the interrogators to turn the camera off and warned them he
will not speak otherwise. Nonetheless the following confessions were caught on
video:
@ Kasab
told the interrogators "Jihad is about killing and getting killed and
becoming famous." "Come, kill and die after a killing spree. By this
one will become famous and will also make Allah proud," when police asked
him what he understood about jihad.
@ According
to the officer, Kasab spoke Pathani Hindi and told the police that he threw up
the moment he saw all the blood and gore. "Kasab said that he could not
bear the sight of dead bodies and after creating enough havoc wanted to go back
to Pakistan," the officer said.
@ "We
were told that our big brother India is so rich and we are dying of poverty and
hunger. My father sells dahi-wada on a stall in Lahore and we did not even get
enough food to eat from his earnings.
@ I
was promised that once they knew that I was successful in my operation, they
would give 150000 (around US$ 3,352), to my family," said Kasab. He
shocked police through his readiness to switch loyalties now that he was
apprehended. "If you give me regular meals and money I will do the same
for you that I did for them," he said.
@ "When
we asked whether he knew any verses from the Quran that described jihad, Kasab said
he did not," police said. In fact he did not know much about Islam or its
tenets," according to a police source.
Legal
issues
@ Several
Indian lawyers refused to represent Kasab citing ethical concerns. A resolution
was passed unanimously by the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrate Court's Bar
Association, which has more than 1,000 members, saying that none of its members
will defend any of the accused of the terror attacks. In December 2008, the
Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan said that for a fair trial, Kasab
needed to get a lawyer.
@ Kasab
wrote to the Pakistani High Commission in India requesting help and legal aid.
In the letter, he confirmed the nationality of himself and the nine slain
terrorists as Pakistani.
@ He
also asked the Pakistani High Commission to take custody of the body of fellow
terrorist Ismail Khan, who was killed in an encounter in south Mumbai on the
night of 26 November. Pakistani officials confirmed the receipt of the letter
and were reported to be studying its details. However, no further updates were
given on the matter by Pakistan.
Charges against him and Legal
actions on him
@ His
conviction was based on CCTV footage showing him striding across the
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus with an AK-47 and a backpack. Towards the end of
December 2008, Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as Public Prosecutor for trying Kasab
and in January 2009 M. L. Tahiliyani was appointed the judge for the case.
@ Indian
investigators filed 11000 pages Chargesheet against Kasab on 25 February 2009.
Due to the fact that the chargesheet was written in Marathi and English, Kasab
had requested that an Urdu translation of the charge sheet be given to him.
@ He
was charged with murder, conspiracy and waging war against India along with
other crimes. His trial was originally scheduled to start on 15 April 2009 but
was postponed as his lawyer; Anjali Waghmare was dismissed for a conflict of
interest. It resumed on 17 April after Abbas Kazmi was assigned as his new
defence counsel.
@ On
20 April the prosecution submitted a list of charges against him, including the
murder of 166 people. On 6 May Kasab pleaded not guilty to 86 charges. The same
month he was identified by eyewitnesses who testified witnessing his actual
arrival and him firing at the victims. Later the doctors who treated him also
identified him. On 2 June 2009, Kasab told the judge he now also understood
Marathi.
@ In
June 2009, the special court issued non-bailable warrants against 22 absconding
accused including Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafeez Saeed and chief of
operations of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Zaki-ur-Rehman Laqvi.
@ On 20 July 2009 Kasab retracted his non-guilty
plea and pleaded guilty to all charges. On 18 December 2009, he retracted his
guilty plea and claimed that he was framed and his confession was obtained by
torture. Instead he claimed to have come to Mumbai 20 days before the attacks
and was simply roaming at Juhu beach when police arrested him.
@ The
trial concluded on 31 March 2010 and on 3 May the verdict was pronounced —
Kasab was found guilty of murder, conspiracy, and of waging war against India.
On 6 May he was sentenced to the death penalty.
@ A
Bombay High Court bench, composed of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Ranjit
More, heard Kasab's appeal against the death penalty and upheld the sentence
given by the trial court in their verdict on 21 February 2011.
@ On
30 July 2011, Kasab moved to Supreme Court of India challenging his conviction
and sentence in the case. Thus, a bench composed of Justice Aftab Alam and
Justice Chandramouli Kr. Prasad stayed the orders of the Bombay High Court, so
as to follow the due process of law, and has started hearing the matter.
My
Personal View On His Life
@ Whatever
he has done in his life is really a shameless thing. He has done all the things
for Jehad without knowing the real meaning of it. He is “The Killing Machine”
manufactured by the Pakistan. He is so shameless that he is not guilty for his
deeds. If he can proudly accept that he has killed many people without any fear
of GOD than he has no right to leave in the beautiful world created by the
Almighty. As per me, Kasab has attacked not only on the Mumbai but also on
humanity. He must be punished severely by the Government of India.
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