“Silence! I kill you!”
This are the words of
Achmed the Dead Terrorist, one of the puppets of
Ventriloquist, Jeff Dunham.
 |
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(Source:
http://jfzliveshere.com/)
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No!
This
blog post is about the profile of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Lashkar-e-Taiba
terrorist, who was executed by hanging in the
high-security Yerwada Jail in Pune, India on Wednesday 21 November at 7:30am. I
nicknamed him as, “AJMAL THE DEAD TERRORIST”. Kasab is now dead together with
other terrorists like Alwaki, John Allen Muhammad,
Osama Bin Laden, Hamam El-Kamouny, Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas.
I will post about his
profile from Wikipedia, before giving my thoughts of his execution on another
post. I had already posted another blog post on the Survivors and Victims’ Families of the 2008 Mumbai Attacks.
Born
|
Mohammed
Ajmal Amir Kasab
13 July 1987 Faridkot, Okara, Punjab, Pakistan |
Died
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21
November 2012 (aged 25)
Pune, Maharashtra, India[2] |
Motive
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Terrorism
|
Conviction(s)
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Murder
Conspiracy Waging war against India Possession of explosives |
Penalty
|
Death sentence
|
Conviction
status
|
Executed
by hanging at 7:30 a.m. (IST) on 21 November 2012
Place - Yerwada Central Jail, Pune |
 |
|
Kasab
in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
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Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab (Punjabi/Urdu: محمد اجمل امیر قصاب; 13 July 1987 – 21 November
2012) was a Pakistani militant and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist group, through which he took part
in the 2008 Mumbai attacks
in India. Kasab was the only attacker captured alive by police.
On
3 May 2010, Kasab was found guilty of 80 offences, including murder, waging war
against India (which is punishable by the death penalty), 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's death sentence was upheld by the Bombay High Court on 21 February 2011.
The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court of India on 29 August 2012. Kasab
was hanged on 21 November 2012 at 7:30 a.m. and buried at Yerwada Jail in Pune.
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 and dahi
vada vendor while his elder brother, Afzal, works as a labourer in Lahore.
His elder sister, Rukaiyya Husain, is married and still lives 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. 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". 'Markaz Dawat ul-Irshad' is a 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:
Ajmal
Kasab is alleged to be among a group of 24 men who received training in marine
warfare at a remote camp in mountainous Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir in Pakistan.
Part of the training is reported to have taken place on the Mangla Dam
reservoir.
Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi, a senior commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, reportedly offered to pay
his family Rs.150,000 for his participation in the attacks. Another report said
the 23-year-old was recruited from his home, in part, based on a pledge by
recruiters to pay Rs.100,000 to his family when he became a martyr. Other
sources put the reward to US $4,000.
Stages of 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. According to an unnamed source at the US Defense Department 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.
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, then aged 25, attacked the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) railway station. They then moved
on to attack a 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. However, there are other reports by doctors who treated him that he
had no bullet wounds at all.
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
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.
Nationality:
After
the attacks, India asserted that Kasab is a Pakistani national based on his
confession and other evidences gathered from him. Several reporters visited
Kasab's village and verified the facts provided by him. Former Pakistan Prime
Minister, Nawaz Sharif confirmed that Kasab was from Faridkot village in
Pakistan, and criticised President Zardari for cordoning off the village and
not allowing his parents to meet anyone.
Investigative
journalist Saeed Shah travelled to Kasab's village and produced national
identity card numbers of his parents; soon after, they themselves disappeared
on the night of 3 December 2008.
Also,
the Mumbai Police said that much of the information that Kasab provided had
proved to be accurate. He disclosed the location of a fishing trawler, MV Kuber,
that the terrorists used to enter Mumbai's coastal waters. He also told investigators
where they would find the ship captain's body, a satellite phone and a
global-positioning device, which they did.
Despite
mounting evidence, Pakistani officials, including President Asif Ali Zardari,
initially denied the assertion that Ajmal Kasab was Pakistani. Pakistani
government officials attempted to erase evidence that there was a
Lashkar-e-Taiba office in Deepalpur. The office was hurriedly closed in the
week of 7 December. Moreover, at Faridkot many residents and local plainclothes
police appeared to be trying to cover up Kasab's connection with the village.
The atmosphere turned hostile, and several reporters who went to Faridkot were
intimidated. In early December, dealing a major blow to Pakistan's claims,
Kasab's father admitted in an interview that the captured terrorist was his
son.
In
January 2009, Pakistan's national security advisor Mahmud Ali Durrani admitted
to Kasab being a Pakistani citizen while speaking to the CNN-IBN news channel.
The Pakistan Government then hastily acknowledged that Ajmal Kasab was a
Pakistani, but also announced that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had fired
Durrani for "failing to take Gilani and other stakeholders into
confidence" before making this information public, and for "a lack of
coordination on matters of national security."
Police interrogation:
Naming
confusion
On
6 December 2008, The Hindu reported that the police officers who
interrogated him did not speak his language, Urdu, and misinterpreted his caste
origin "kasai", meaning butcher, to be a surname, writing it as
"Kasav".
The Times of India reported
a different version of the error. The paper stated that the police officers
correctly understood that Ajmal Kasab does not have a surname. In order to
satisfy an administrative requirement that people have surnames, the officers
used the "Indian way"' by asking Kasab for his father's profession,
and decided to use this word, "butcher", or "Kasab" in
Urdu, as his surname.
Various officials made minor corrections they
thought were needed to the Latin alphabet spelling. Eventually, native Hindi
and Punjabi speaking police officers talked to Kasab and discovered the error. The
Hindu refers to him as either "Mohammad Ajmal Amir, son of Mohammad
Amir Iman" or "Mohammad Ajmal Amir 'Kasab'".
List of various names used to refer to Kasab
is as follows:
- Ajmal Kasab
- Azam Amir Kasav
- Ajmal Qasab
- Ajmal Amir Kamal
- Ajmal Amir Kasab
- Azam Ameer Qasab
- Mohammad Ajmal Qasam
- Ajmal Mohammed Amir Kasab
- Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasar
- Amjad Amir Kamaal
- Mohammed Ajmal Amir Qasab
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 was from Faridkot in Pakistan (near
Deepalpur, not to be confused with other towns of the same name in Pakistan and
India) and had received arms training in Pakistan. Ammunition, a satellite
phone and a layout plan of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was recovered from him.
He provided many clues to the investigation agencies and reportedly described
how they arrived at Mumbai from Karachi via Porbandar. He 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 visited the village near Deepalpur, in Okara district,
and identified the parents as named by Mumbai police. Villagers 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.
Confessions
on video
He
repeatedly asked the interrogators to turn the camera off and warned them he
would not speak otherwise. Nonetheless the following confessions were caught on
video:
Kasab
told the interrogators "it [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 
150,000 (around US$ 3,352), to my
family," said Kasab.
150,000 (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.
Face
to face with Abu Jundal
On
9 August 2012, Kasab was brought face-to-face with Abu Jundal, the handler of
Mumbai attacks, at the Arthur Road jail where they identified each other. Kasab
also admitted that Jundal had taught him Hindi.
Other
reports
In
a press conference, the Mumbai city police commissioner said "The person
we have caught alive is certainly a Pakistani. They were all trained by ex-army
officers, some for a year, some for more than a year". On 23 November 2008
they set sail from Karachi unarmed to be picked up by a larger vessel. They
hijacked the Indian fishing trawler Kuber and set sail for Mumbai.
The Times
reported on 3 December 2008 that Indian police were going to submit Kasab to a
narco analysis test to definitively determine his nationality.
According
to Daily News and Analysis, Kasab began reading the autobiography of
India's non-violent leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in early March 2009, in
response to gradual coaxing by prison guards.
 |
| Ujjwal Nikam |
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 26 November 2008. 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.
Trial:
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 a 11,000 page 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 2009 after Abbas Kazmi was
assigned as his new defence counsel. On 20 April 2009, the prosecution submitted
a list of charges against him, including the murder of 166 people. On 6 May
2009, 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 2010, he was sentenced to the death penalty.
A
Bombay High Court bench, composed of Justice Ranjanaa 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 started hearing the case.
On
29 August 2012, Kasab was found guilty of waging war and was sentenced to death
by the Supreme Court of India.
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Relatives of victims of the July 26, 2008
bomb blasts in Ahmedabad burn a picture of Ajmal Amir Kasab during a
demonstration welcoming his death sentence.
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Death:
Background
Kasab's
plea for clemency was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on 5 November
2012. On 7 November, Minister of Home Affairs Sushilkumar Shinde confirmed the
President's rejection of the petition. The following day, the Maharashtra state
government was formally notified and requested to take action. The date of 21
November was then fixed for the execution, and the Indian government faxed
their decision to the Pakistani Foreign Office.
Kasab
was formally informed of his execution on 12 November, after which he requested
government officials to inform his mother. On the night of 18–19 November, a
senior prison official at Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai read Kasab's death warrant
to him, informing him at the same time that his petition for clemency had been
rejected. Kasab was then asked to sign his death warrant, which he did. He was
secretly transferred under heavy guard to Yerwada Jail in Pune, arriving in the
early morning of 19 November. The death and funeral of nationalist politician
Bal Thackeray also aided in diverting attention from Kasab. An officer at
Arthur Road Jail stated anonymously "Throughout the journey from Mumbai to
Pune, he did not cause any trouble. Kasab's attitude was of resignation when he
came to know that his mercy petition has been rejected by the President. The
police officer added "Kasab did not shed a single tear during the last few
days." He reportedly sang the previous night in his cell and lost his
composure after reaching the gallows.
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Police
stand guard outside the high-security Yerwada Jail where Mohammed Kasab was
hanged in Pune. AFP Photo
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Execution
The
Pune police were not informed of the execution and only the jail superintendent
at Yerwada was made aware of Kasab's identity. During the day he was at
Yerwada, Kasab was placed in a special cell and no other inmates were informed
of his presence. It was only a few minutes before Kasab's execution that the
executioner was informed whom he would be hanging.
Though
nervous in the final minutes before his execution, Kasab remained quiet and
offered prayers. He was hanged on 21 November 2012 at 7:30, according to an
announcement by Home Minister Shinde. Kasab's execution by the Maharashtra
government happened barely two weeks after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected
his mercy petition on November 5."
After
the government contemplated burial at sea, the decision was finally made to
bury Kasab in the compound of Yerwada Jail. Following his execution, Kasab's
body was given to a maulvi for burial in accordance with Islamic rites. Ansar
Burney, a human rights activist in Pakistan, later offered to help repatriate
Kasab's body to Pakistan citing humanitarian reasons. The Indian government has
stated that it would consider a formal application if offered. Shinde later
stated that his body was buried in India as Pakistan had reportedly refused to
claim it.
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A man holds a picture
of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab with a noose, as he celebrates Kasab's execution, in
Ahmedabad November 21, 2012. REUTERS/Amit Dave
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Check out this video
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