Bharat Rakshak

Kasab video out: 'From Lashkar... father said we will have money'
Vijay Rana
Posted: Jul 01, 2009 at 0850 hrs IST

London Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman captured in Mumbai during the 26/11 terror attacks, is lying on a clean hospital bed. Wrapped in a blanket, his face scratched and a wound in the neck freshly covered, he tells his police interrogator that he is from the Lashkar-e-Toiba, assigned the “task of killing people” after his father struck a deal with the Lashkar for “lakhs of rupees”.

This footage is part of Dan Reed’s documentary broadcast on Tuesday night on UK’s Channel 4 television — it is a graphic account of the 60-hour long bloodbath that Kasab and his associates unleashed in Mumbai in November 2008.

During his questioning, Kasab almost begins to sob. The Lashkar emerges as a ruthless organisation, hiring and training impoverished Pakistani youth for its war against India. Kasab says his father told him “These people make loads of money and so will you. You don’t have to do anything difficult. We will have money. We won’t be poor any more.” His brother and sisters, he says, will be able to get married. And he “will go to jannat (heaven)”.

This video recording will not be accepted as evidence in court because Kasab has since retracted his statements, saying he made this confession under duress.

Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria today said they would check how the footage was obtained by the channel. ACP Tanaji Ghadge, who questioned Kasab at Nair Hospital shortly after he was nabbed, said: “I do not know how this footage was leaked to the media. I had passed on the footage to my superiors.”

Excerpts from the 2.34 minute-clip:

Police: Kitne logon ko maara (How many did you kill)?

Kasab: Pata nahin... bas aise chalate rahe, chalate rahe (Don’t know, simply kept firing)

Police: Kis ko maarne ke liye bataya tha (Who were you told to kill)?

Kasab: Logon ko (People)

continued on page 2

Kasab video out: ‘From Lashkar... father said we will have money’

Police: Aisa kitna operation kiya tum logon ne? Iske pehle kidhar kidhar kiya? (How many such operations did you carry out earlier? Where all?)

Kasab: Kidhar bhi nahin kiya... pehle kidhar bhi nahin kiya. Bolta hai bas karo aur mar jao... ek baari. Yahi bataya ki ye kaam tum logon ko karna hai. (Had never done any such operation. Was told to do it once and die. Was told we had to do this job)...

Police: Tumhara sangathan ka naam kya hai? Tumhara gang ka naam kya hai, team ka naam? (What’s the name of your organisation?)

Kasab: Haan... Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Police: Aaj ka kaam karne ke baad kidhar jaane waale thaey tum log (Where were you headed after this)?

Kasab: Marne waaley thaey (We were going to die)

Police: Kaise (How)?

Kasab: Woh bataya tha jannat mein jaoge (He told us we would go to heaven).

The documentary captures the nightmare at CST station, Cama Hospital, Leopold Cafe and focuses on the Trident hotel. Nine staff and three guests have been killed in the lobby.

“We have rounded up 15 people” a terrorist informs his handlers in Pakistan, “and moved them to the top of the hotel.” Later, ten of these were gunned on a staircase. As the terrorists were about to shoot a man from Turkey, his wife screamed: He is your brother, a Muslim. They separated three women, asked them to face the wall and shot them in their heads. The man from Turkey was angry, “I shouted kill me.” “No kill, you brother,” they replied. The man and his wife were allowed to go down the stairs full of bodies. “I never knew, blood was so slippery,” he says.

In Pakistan, the Lashkar commanders are in an almost celebratory mood. They ask “kee haal hai jee”. The terrorists in the Taj are struck by its grandeur and opulence. “There are computers with 30-inch screens,” they inform their handler. “Haven’t you set them on fire?” questions the boss.

The Nariman House horror also unfolds. The plan to take Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife Rivka hostage and secure the release of Kasab has failed. New instructions are passed from Pakistan: “Just shoot them now. Jaan chhuddao, don’t wait any longer, Insha Allah, Insha Allah. Sit them up. Shoot them in the back of head.”

The terrorist was obviously hesitating. The voice from Pakistan says, “Karen Bismillah.” Two loud shots are heard. “Did you kill them”, asks the voice from Pakistan. “Done,” replies the man on the spot. And then, filmed through a window, baby Moshe is seen wandering in the room where his parents lie dead.

Dan Reed’s film ends with a chilling warning. One of the Lashkar commanders is heard telling the terrorists in the Taj: “Tell them this is only the trailer... just wait till you see the rest of the film.”

rajsunder wrote:I have been trying to find out what happened to the rumors about terrorists who were already in place in nariman house(the rumors about them ordering huge amounts of chicken and other food stuff) other than the 10 who came by boat.

was that just a rumor or ??

ArmenT wrote:

rajsunder wrote:I have been trying to find out what happened to the rumors about terrorists who were already in place in nariman house(the rumors about them ordering huge amounts of chicken and other food stuff) other than the 10 who came by boat.

was that just a rumor or ??

If I remember correctly, it emerged later that the food was ordered by the rabbi himself. Seems he used to buy the stuff in bulk at regular intervals, to feed visitors to the Chabad house.

The government petition against the release of Hafiz Saeed is now to be filed in the Supreme Court on Monday as the legal officials who were to submit it on Saturday arrived at the court only after it closed for the day.

Two identical petitions, one from the federal government and another from the Punjab provincial government, are to be filed pleading for leave to appeal {so, it is not the actual appeal} against the Lahore High Court order releasing Mr. Saeed

According to the draft petition seen by The Hindu, the government will argue that the Lahore High Court did not consider the “sensitivity” of the case in the context of the prevailing situation of “combat against internal and external terrorism” that Pakistan faces, and has ignored the “true import” of the U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The petition argues that the Lahore High Court placed too much emphasis on evidence against Mr. Saeed. {All the above arguments are meant to get Hafeez Saeed escape imprisonment. It is following the same technique as in the Lahore High Court. By arguing this same way, GoP is telling the judges that it doesn't have any concrete evidence, though on the contrary it must have tons of it. It obviously means that GoP is unwilling to present the evidence}

The Central government on Saturday took another step towards tackling terrorism, soon after it set up the four NSG (National Security Guards) hubs in the four metros recently. The Central government will set up voice biometric systems across the country. According to the company installing this system, they will begin setting up the system by this year end at forensic science laboratories, law enforcement agencies such as police, IB, ATS and the NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau).

...

ramana wrote:Gagan et al, As a public service can we have a team do a voice over in Urdu or Hindi and upload into youtube for wider dissemination?

Pakistan has already submitted an appeal with Supreme Court against the release of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed and appointed Baqir Ali Rana as judge for Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court-II.

Doing this a little more than a week before key dialogue, observers believe, is specifically meant to address Indian concerns {letting the cat out of the bag of true Pakistani intentions} about JuD chief’s release and the delay in prosecution of the five accused in Mumbai case including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu al Qama, Shahid Jamil Riaz and Hamad Amin Sadiq because of absence of a judge in the court that was trying them. The court was without a judge since May 23.

Indian diplomats had quite frequently referred to these two issues questioning Pakistan’s sincerity in Mumbai investigations.

But, India is still far from happy.

A senior Indian diplomat, while commenting on the developments, said mere appointment of judge or filing an appeal ‘is not much.’ He did not see the two things having any significant positive influence on the Sharm El Sheikh talks.

‘We want to see prosecution,’ he emphasised.

The Pakistan Supreme Court registrar raised “minor” technical objections on two government petitions challenging the release of Hafiz Saeed that were submitted on Monday, and the corrected appeals would now be resubmitted on Tuesday, said an official.

Deputy Attorney-General Shah Khawar told The Hindu the federal government and the Punjab provincial government submitted separate petitions to the Supreme Court on Monday challenging the June 2 Lahore High Court order that set free the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.

“But the registrar’s office had some minor technical objections to the petitions. We have removed those objections and complied with the court’s requirements, and the petitions will be filed on Tuesday,” said Mr. Khawar.

The petitions could not be resubmitted on the same day as the court timings were up by the time the corrections were carried out, he said.

One objection was that while Mr. Saeed’s writ petition in the Lahore High Court against his house arrest included three co-petitioners, the petitions submitted in the Supreme Court mentioned only two names — Hafiz Saeed and Colonel (retired) Nazir Ahmed.

The other two, Amir Hamza and Mufti Abdur Rehman, were released by a detention extension review board before the writ came up for hearing in the High Court. But the Supreme Court wanted their names included, as they were party to the original petition. “Both petitions are now ready, and federal government and Punjab government will be submitting them tomorrow,” said Mr. Khawar.

SSridhar wrote:Acharya, what are those pictures and why are they posted here ? I will delete them if you do not add proper captions.

Muppalla wrote:http://vimeo.com/5409826

this is the entire video of the channel 4 dispatches. Please copy the link and view it. It may not work if the link is clicked directly.

Interior Minister Mr Rehman Malik has met the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad and told him that he had enough evidence to convict the persons in prison for carrying out the attack. The information he made public on Sunday is new for Pakistanis as well and will shock many who thought the deed just couldn’t have been done from Pakistan. The mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is awaiting trial together with a number of operatives, and Pakistan has completed the investigation of the case 76 days after India provided the needed evidence.

Lashkar-e Tayba was the alleged culprit, according to Mr Rehman. Lakhvi planned the act, Hammad Amin got the funds and arranged hideouts, Mazhar Iqbal was the handler, Abdul Wajid was the expert of the computer networks, and Shahid Jamil was the crew member of “Al-Hussaini” and “Al-Fouz”, the two boats used in the attacks. The government is looking for Muhammad Amjad Khan and Iftikhar Ali who deposited $250 in Islamabad to obtain a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) connection for terrorists’ communication; Shahid Ghafur, captain of the boats, and crew members Abdul Rehman, Muhammad Usman, Atiqur Rehman, Riaz Ahmad, Muhammad Mushtaq, Muhammad Naeem, Abdul Shakoor, Muhammad Sabir Salafi, Muhammad Usman and Shakil Ahmad.

“We might or we might not withdraw,” he told The Hindu, adding that his submission seeking withdrawal of the appeal had not been recorded by the court and had been made “informally.”

But he defended the move, saying the Punjab government had issued the detention order for Mr. Saeed’s house arrest on the basis of instructions from the federal government and “they are the ones who have to come with evidence to support our case.”

“Our concern in the morning was that no fresh evidence or material has been communicated to us by federal government, which justified out request for withdrawal.”

He said the federal government had the “major role” in the decision on whether or not to continue with the appeals.

The provincial government is the main petitioner in the case as it implemented the detention order.

Officials here {New Delhi} also point out that the Pakistan federal and state governments haven’t really come up with any new information against Saeed after his release on June 2, specially information that directly connects him with Mumbai attacks. Indian official suspects it was deliberate. Besides, it is also felt that Pakistani government could have kept Saeed inside if it had wanted to. But they clearly did not.

The Indian security establishment suspects Pakistan uses information supplied to it to identify and target those sources of information. Senior government sources here tracking developments in Pakistan said the Pakistan government had not furnished any new information against Saeed although on Monday the government, while challenging Saeed’s release, said it was doing so based on ‘‘confidential evidence’’. But that evidence was not produced on Tuesday.

p_saggu wrote:The only reason why pakistan is dangling the possible Hafeez Saeed's court case like a carrot is because these congenital beggers want something in return. They want some pro quid quo. What that is likely to be is anyone's guess. It could be the release of some terrorist held by India, privately I am sure their track II team has requested GOI at very high levels to somehow release Kasab.