26/11 attack was suddenly postponed by Pak masterminds
TNN 21 July 2009, 01:42am IST
MUMBAI: At noon on Monday, Pakistani gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab started making a full confessional statement about his role in the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. In an admission that was unexpected and lasted four and a half hours, Kasab gave minute details of how the attack was planned with the connivance of dozens of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operatives in Pakistan and how he and his partner Abu Ismail went on the rampage at CST station and neighbouring Cama Hospital. He named LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi as the mastermind of the plot who personally saw off the group at Karachi port.
The 21-year-old terrorist — the sole survivor among the 10 who arrived by sea from Pakistan — revealed that the gunmen had to sit tight in a house at Karachi for over 45 days after they had finished their training (TOI had reported on how the terror strike was earlier planned to coincide with the Ramzan period). They were given strict instructions not to even step out of the house or disobey any orders given by their LeT trainers. Kasab said that it was the same house that had been shown in a news report by Geo TV.
He also washed his hands of the killing of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, saying it was his partner Abu Ismail who was responsible. He blamed another team member, Abu Shoaib for the murder of M V Kuber's navigator Amar Singh Solanki between Porbander and Mumbai.
He placed a question mark over policeman Tukaram Ombale's death at Marine Drive by saying that his own AK-47 had already been snatched from him by the policemen who pounced on him. ``I did not get a chance to fire. I heard a lot of firing. The next thing I knew I was in the hospital,'' Kasab said.
Another interesting revelation that Kasab made was that one of his LeT trainers called Abu Jundal was an Indian national and had taught the gunmen to speak Hindi. ``Woh Hindustani hain,'' he said.
Special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam responded to Kasab's confession by saying, ``These are all ploys to mislead. He has not divulged the entire truth. The matter will remain in court for now.''
Dressed in a white pathani suit, Kasab spoke in a calm voice. He made it clear to judge M L Tahaliyani that he was under no pressure and was making the statement voluntarily. ``I would have done this much earlier but Pakistan was not willing to accept that I was their national. Now that they have done so, I have no qualms in confessing to my crime,'' Kasab said.
Kasab's narrative started with the killings at CST. Not only did he confess to firing upon innocents and policemen but also acknowledged the corroborative evidence that had been brought against him in court. ``The images on CCTV footage are mine,'' he said. He bolstered the prosecution's case by recalling where the witnesses had seen him during the CST and Cama attack.
Judge Tahaliyani recorded every word that the gunman said. He made it clear to him that it was a conversation only between him and Kasab and none of the lawyers or police officials present should interfere. Kasab gave details of complete roles played by LeT trainers and commanders in planning the attack. He threw light on the elaborate infrastructure of terror groups in Pakistan which is used to train hundreds of youth for `jihad'. He admitted that the Faridkot house that Indian security agencies had shown him in TV images was his.
Kasab's confession will now be transcribed and a copy of it will be sent to his cell at Arthur Road Jail. He will be expected to read it and sign every page saying that he agrees with what is written. Only after that will judge Tahaliyani consider whether to agree to his plea to ``end the trial and punish him''.
The admission of guilt came nearly eight months after Kasab was arrested as the lone surviving member of a group of ten terrorists who killed 166 people and injured over 300 in a terror attack that lasted nearly three days.
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