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India-Pakistan

Mumbai attacks case: India 'disappointed' at US immunity for ISI

2012-12-20

[Dawn] India on Wednesday called a declaration that Pakistain’s intelligence service and former chiefs enjoy immunity in a case related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks a “serious disappointment”. The Indian government has long alleged that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was behind the Islamist attacks which left 166 people dead – an accusation denied by Islamabad. The Indian statement was in response to an affidavit filed in a US court earlier in the week in which the US government said Pakistain’s ISI and its former chiefs, Ahmed Shuja Pasha and Nadeem Taj, “enjoy immunity” in the Mumbai attacks. The US affidavit is “a matter of deep and abiding concern”, the Indian government statement said, noting Washington has publicly said it is committed to bringing “those responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks to justice”. “The decision of the US authorities in this case is a cause of serious disappointment,” said the Indian statement. The New York federal court is hearing a case filed by US survivors of the Mumbai attacks and family members of the victims against Pasha, Taj and other ISI officials. Leaders of the Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) orc group, including its founder Mohammed Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... , are also named in the suit. India has accused Pakistain’s ISI of collaborating with the LeT to mount the attacks. The US government insisted in its affidavit that Pakistain must take steps to dismantle the LeT and support India’s efforts to counter orc threats, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI). But at the same time the affidavit said, “the ISI is entitled to immunity because it is part of a foreign state”, the PTI report stated. India last month hanged Pak national Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman of 10 attackers who raided targets including top hotels and a Mumbai railway station while holding elite Indian Special Forces at bay.

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India-Pakistan

Kasab's mercy plea goes to Indian president

2012-10-24

[Dawn] Indian officials on Tuesday submitted a clemency plea to the president by the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, opening the final appeal stage against his death sentence. Pakistain-born Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, currently in jail in Mumbai, was one of 10 gunnies who laid siege to the city in attacks that lasted nearly three days and killed 166 people and maimed more than 300 on November 26, 2008. Can't see why they'd grant him clemency. He didn't grant it to his victims.

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India-Pakistan

Kasab asks for presidential pardon in Mumbai attacks case

2012-09-19

[Dawn] Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed, has pleaded for mercy in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case in a final bid to avoid the gallows. His mercy petition has been sent to the President's office, Indian media outlets reported. Pakistain-born Kasab sent his petition through officials at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai where he is being held, the Press Trust of India said. "We have sent a mercy petition to the president filed by Kasab," the news agency quoted a bigwig at the high-security prison as saying. Earlier in August, Indian Supreme Court rejected a plea by Kasab to convert the death sentence handed to him by the Bombay High Court to life imprisonment. "We are left with no option but to award death penalty," the two judges said in a court order on August 29. "The primary and foremost offence committed by Kasab is waging war against the government of India." Kasab, who is currently held in a maximum-security prison in Mumbai, was found guilty on charges, including waging war, murder and terrorist acts, and was sentenced to death in May 2010. Only one execution has taken place in India in 15 years -- that of a former security guard hanged in 2004 for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl. However public demands for the hanging of Kasab have been growing ever since the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the death sentence. During the November 2008 attacks, heavily armed gunnies stormed targets in Mumbai, including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, a hospital and a bustling train station. India blames the Pakistain-based Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) jihad boy organization for training, equipping and financing the gunnies with support from `elements' in the Pakistain military. Kasab initially pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." but later confessed, admitting he was one of the gunnies sent by LeT. At his trial, the prosecution produced fingerprint, DNA, eyewitness and TV footage evidence showing him opening fire and throwing grenades at Mumbai's main railway station in the bloodiest episode of the attacks. "I was denied a fair trial," Kasab said in a statement when his appeal hearing began in January. "I may be guilty of killing people and carrying out a terrorist act but I am not guilty of waging war against the state." What on earth does he think committing a terrorist act at the behest and expense of a foreign government is? He said that he was denied proper legal representation and that some charges against him were not proved beyond a reasonable doubt. President Pranab Mukherjee, who took office in July, is currently considering 11 other appeals for clemency from death row prisoners.

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India-Pakistan

Warrants issued for five Pakistanis in Mumbai attacks

2010-10-08

[Dawn] Interpol notified its members on Thursday that India has issued arrest warrants for five Pak citizens, including two army officers, for alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, an official said. India asked Interpol to issue the so-called ''red corner notices'' for the five Paks, said R.K. Gaur, a front man for India's Central Bureau of Investigation. The notices follow a probe by India's National Investigation Agency into the role of American David Coleman Headley, who pleaded guilty in the United States in March to participating in the planning of the attacks, which killed 166 people. The five Paks wanted by India are Maj. Sameer Ali, Maj. Iqbal, Illyas Kashmiri, Abdur Rehman Hashim and Sajid Majid, Gaur said. Iqbal was Headley's handler who arranged funds and training for him, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. It said Ali was also named by Headley. Arrest warrants for the five were issued by a New Delhi court in July following a request by the National Investigation Agency. In July, Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai accused Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence agency of orchestrating the Mumbai attacks. Pillai said the information, which Pakistain has denied, came from Headley's interrogation. A court in Mumbai in May convicted and sentenced to death Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving gunman from the attacks. He has appealed his death sentence in the Mumbai High Court. Kasab was one of 10 Paks who attacked two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a busy train station in India's financial capital in November 2008.

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India-Pakistan

Kasab gets death

2010-05-06

MUMBAI, India – An Indian court sentenced the only surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks to death Thursday, a punishment officials hoped would send a message to archrival Pakistan to stop future violence as fears about the global reach of militancy based on its soil grow. Judge M.L. Tahaliyani gave Mohammed Ajmal Kasab multiple death sentences for murder, waging war against India, conspiracy and terrorism. He also handed down penalties for over two dozen other offenses ranging to life in prison. "He shall be hanged by his neck until he is dead," Tahaliyani said. Kasab cried silently as he heard the penalties, his shoulders shaking as he hid his face with his hand. Guards helped him out of the courtroom briefly for a glass of water. Awwwww, c'mon, Brave Jihadi Pussy. You guys love death...

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India-Pakistan

Kasab guilty of all 86 charges

2010-05-04

Followup and more details. MUMBAI -- The special 26/11 court on Monday found Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist, guilty of all 86 charges that were framed against him, including waging war against the state, murder and abetment of murder. But the court acquitted two Indians, accused of providing logistical support, including maps, to the 10 Pakistani terrorists, who had killed about 170 persons during a 60-hour span from the night of November 26, 2008. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence against Kasab on Tuesday, after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence. Kasab faces the maximum sentence of death. Judge M.L. Tahiliyani declared that Kasab's offence was not just "a simple act of murder, but was a brazen act of war." The kind of preparation that went into the 26/11 terrorist attack was not made by ordinary criminals, said the judge in his 1,500-plus page judgment. Only those waging a war against the state could have done it.

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India-Pakistan

Mumbai attacks trial closes, verdict due May 3

2010-04-01

[Dawn] The trial of a Pakistani accused of being in a 10-man team of gunmen who killed 166 people during a rampage through Mumbai in 2008 closed on Wednesday after a year of dramatic courtroom testimony. The judge will deliver a verdict on May 3 on 22-year-old Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, considered the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks which traumatised India and led to a spike in tension with Pakistan. The prosecution has called for him to be put to death and has presented evidence it considers overwhelmingly proves his guilt, including a photo of him carrying an AK-47 machine gun through the main train terminal in Mumbai. Kasab stands accused on scores of charges, including waging war against India and murder over the three days of carnage which targeted luxury hotels, a tourist restaurant, the railway station and a Jewish centre. "The trial has ended and the prosecution has presented the links between Kasab, LeT (militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba) and the Pakistani army," state prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam told reporters outside court. During his final arguments, state prosecutor Nikam had called Kasab a "conniving, depraved murderer" who was trained by the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Kasab initially pleaded not guilty when the trial started in April, but in July made a shock confession, admitting being one of two gunmen who opened fire at the train station. He also detailed how the group was trained by the banned LeT, and he then asked for swift justice. "Please go ahead and hang me," he said at the time - however in December he retracted his confession, saying he had been framed by the police after coming to Mumbai to seek a career in the Bollywood film industry. Kasab and an accomplice who died are alleged to have committed the bloodiest episode in the 60-hour reign of terror, opening fire with AK-47 assault rifles and throwing grenades in the station. Some 52 people died and 109 others were wounded there. The trial began last April and has heard live evidence from nearly 300 people. The psychological impact of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on Indians is often compared by local commentators and media to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Millions watched in horror over three days as ill-equipped security forces struggled to stem the killing in a city that is the country's financial capital and showbiz centre. Seven alleged Pakistani planners of the November 2008 attacks are on trial in their home country, where the case has been regularly delayed and adjourned. Among the suspects is the alleged mastermind of the operation, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and alleged LeT operative Zarar Shah. Recent events in the United States have also shed light on the planning of the assault after the arrest of a man born of US and Pakistani parents who has pleaded guilty to assisting the Mumbai attackers. Last week, David Headley pleaded guilty to 12 charges of conspiring in the attacks after making numerous visits to Mumbai where he photographed and drew up detailed plans of the eventual targets. The United States has said it had not yet decided whether to give India direct access to Headley despite repeated requests from New Delhi.

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India-Pakistan

Mumbai gunman demands trial by international court

2010-01-26

[Dawn] The alleged gunman in the 2008 bloody siege of Mumbai said Monday he should be tried by an international court because he does not expect justice in India. Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 21, told a special court that police had falsely implicated him in the case. ''I should be tried in an international court,'' he told Judge M.L. Tahiliyani. Last month, Kasab retracted his confession that he sprayed gunfire into a crowd at the railroad station. He also said police tortured him into admitting having a role in the attacks. Kasab also said Monday he wanted to call witnesses from Pakistan for his defense, and that he should be allowed to meet Pakistani officials. Witnesses would include a passport officer, he said, without providing other details. The judge asked him to file a petition through his attorney. Kasab could face the death penalty if convicted. Murder and conspiracy to wage war against India are among the charges he faces. Kasab told the judge he came to Mumbai as a tourist and was arrested 20 days before the siege began. On the day the attacks started, Kasab said police took him from his cell because he resembled one of the gunmen. They then shot him to make it look as if he had been involved in the attacks and re-arrested him, Kasab said.

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India-Pakistan

Mumbai gunman recants confession, alleges torture

2009-12-18

All part of the game plan ... MUMBAI, India -- The accused gunman in last year's bloody siege of Mumbai retracted his detailed confession Friday, saying police tortured him into admitting his role in the attacks that left 166 people dead. Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 21, who is being tried in a special court -- and was photographed carrying an assault rifle during the attack on Mumbai's main train station -- told the judge he came to Mumbai as a tourist and was arrested 20 days before the siege began. On the day the attacks started, Kasab said, police took him from his cell because he resembled one of the gunmen, shot him to make it look like he had been involved in the violence and re-arrested him. Friday's statement was not the first reversal from Kasab. In February, he told a judge he wanted to attack India in order to free the divided region of Kashmir where Muslim militants are fighting for independence. He later recanted that statement, saying it was obtained under duress. It was unclear what impact Kasab's statement would have on the case, and the prosecution brushed it off. "All the while, I expected that Kasab was about to take a U-turn in the case," said Ujjwal Nikam, the prosecutor. "He is a military-trained commando. It's not going to affect our case." In July, Kasab, who could face the death penalty if convicted, surprised the court when he suddenly confessed, saying he would rather be hanged in this world than face "God's punishment" in the next. In his confession, he spoke of spraying gunfire into the crowd at the train station and described in detail a network of training camps and safe houses across Pakistan, revealing the names of four men he said were his handlers. The photo of Kasab casually walking through the station with his rifle has become the enduring image of the attacks. But Kasab said police tortured him into falsely confessing. The assault 13 months ago lasted nearly three days and paralyzed India's commercial hub. During the attacks, 10 young men armed with assault rifles stormed two luxury hotels, a Jewish center and the train station. Nine of the gunmen were killed, leaving only Kasab, who was wounded in a shootout with police, authorities said. He told the court Friday he was initially arrested last year after wandering around Mumbai late at night looking for a place to stay, and his Pakistani citizenship aroused suspicion. After he was re-arrested for the Mumbai attack, he said, four white men came to visit him in jail, including David Coleman Headley, who is jailed in Chicago on charges he conspired in the siege. The judge then told Kasab not to reveal any more details on Headley. Headley, the 49-year-old son of an American mother and Pakistani father, is also charged with planning to attack a Danish newspaper. Never happen with KSM and his pals of course right?

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan again adjourns Mumbai attack hearing

2009-10-04

[Dawn] A Pakistani court on Saturday adjourned for a second time a hearing for seven suspects accused by India of plotting the deadly Mumbai attacks last year, a lawyer said. New Delhi has been pressuring Islamabad to speed up the probe of Pakistani militants believed to be behind the Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people. India and Washington blamed the November attacks on Pakistan's banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the siege stalled a fragile four-year peace process between the two countries. 'The hearing has been adjourned until the 10th of October,' said Shahbaz Rajput, a defence lawyer representing two of the suspects. Because the proceedings at an anti-terrorism court are going on behind closed doors, Rajput said he could not disclose the reason for the second postponement, or give any details of the case. The seven accused were present at Saturday's proceedings, he added. The hearing had originally been scheduled to begin on July 25, but was postponed then as the judge was on leave. The anti-terrorism court has been set up in the high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining the capital, Islamabad. Interior Minister Rehman Malik in July said that the seven men would soon be charged over the 60-hour rampage but called on India to provide more information to bring the perpetrators to justice. Those in custody include the alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and alleged key LeT operative Zarar Shah. India has put on trial Pakistan's Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai attacks and who has made a dramatic confession. India insists it will resume talks to normalise ties only after Pakistan brings to justice the alleged perpetrators and has blamed Pakistani 'official agencies' for abetting the assault - a claim Islamabad flatly denies. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York late last month, foreign ministers from both nations met to discuss the impasse. India's SM Krishna said investigations into the Mumbai plot must 'gather further momentum.' His counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi assured Krishna that the seven men would be tried, but urged dialogue on all bilateral issues.

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India-Pakistan

Kasab refuses food, says he wants mutton biriyani

2009-08-06

Jail authorities on Thursday complained to a special court that prime accused in 26/11 terror attack case Mohammed Ajmal Kasab [ Images ] has refused to eat food and thrown away utensils in his cell, saying that he wants to have 'mutton biriyani'. Judge M L Tahaliyani reprimanded Kasab for his rude behaviour and warned him to behave himself or else face stringent action. This is not for the first time that Kasab has thrown tantrums. Even earlier, he threw away the utensils in which he was served food, the jail authorities complained. Kasab's behaviour was brought to the notice of the court after he refused to eat food yesterday and banged the utensil against the wall. The jail authorities informed the court that Kasab was served same food which was given to other prisoners. When Judge M L Tahaliyani asked Kasab whether he had behaved rudely with jail staff, he stood up and said, "Yes sir". Kasab is lodged in the high security central prison at Arthur Road. The court is also housed in the same compound. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam condemned Kasab's behaviour saying he was throwing tantrums every now and then. Nikam said he had read reports in a section of the media that on Raksha Bandhan day, Kasab had asked his lawyer after the court proceedings whether anyone would tie Rakhi to him. This, he said, was deliberately leaked to the media and the ploy of Kasab was to gain sympathy of the people. Kasab is very clever and should not be allowed to throw tantrums, Nikam said. Meanwhile, jail sources said they would keep a strict watch on Kasab. There are CCTV cameras installed in his cell and his movements are being monitored, they said.

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India-Pakistan

India reveals more evidence on Mumbai attacks

2009-08-02

[Iran Press TV Latest] India's Home Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, says that New Delhi has provided Pakistan with more evidence about the Mumbai attacks. The Indian minister said all of Pakistan's previous questions about the investigation now have been answered, and that there is enough evidence for Pakistan to prosecute Hafiz Saeed, who is believed to be a central planner of the three-day terrorist siege in Mumbai. Saeed heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity, a reported front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, based in Pakistan, which is accused of carrying out the attacks on India. The bloodshed severely strained relations between India and Pakistan, and brought the two nuclear-armed neighbors' slow-moving peace process to a halt. Pakistan put Saeed under house arrest in December, but he was released in June by a court that ruled there was insufficient evidence against him. He is one of 38 people, including Pakistani nationals, who India says were the key figures in planning the attacks on Mumbai. India says all 10 gunmen involved in the assault on Mumbai were Pakistanis. Officials in Islamabad have accepted that the attacks were planned, in part on Pakistani territory, but they deny India's assertion that Pakistani government agents were involved. The lone surviving Mumbai gunman, Pakistani national Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, testified in court that he was 'waging war' against India at the time. Pakistan has filed police complaints against at least five suspects, and is searching for at least a dozen others in the case.

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