‘India’s evidence against Saeed not admissible under our law’
Times of India
NEW DELHI: Pakistan has contended that the Indian evidence against LeT founder Hafiz Saeed of his involvement in Mumbai terror attack is not admissible under their laws for prosecution.
In a dossier given to India in which it asked for handing over of Ajmal Amir Kasab, Islamabad has also asked New Delhi to give all additional evidence related to 26/11 to it by the middle of next month, sources said.
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad asked Delhi on Saturday to facilitate the transfer of Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Mumbai attacker, to Pakistan for recording his statement in the trial of the suspects here.
The request was conveyed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik in a meeting with Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal.
More Nonsense From India
Times of India Reports:
Terrorists of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks had planted two powerful bombs with timers in metal boxes at different places near the Taj hotel with notes scribbled in Urdu saying “yeh jung ki aur ishara hai” (this is pointer to war), a witness told the trial court here on Wednesday (Times of India)
Except that in URDU, it should’ve read “yeh jung ki TARAF/JAANIB ishara hai” as opposed to ‘yeh jung ki AUR / ORE ishara hai”.
“Aur”, pronounced ‘ore’ is exclusively a HINDI word and does not exist in the Urdu vocabulary at all. Strange, considering India alleges all the 26/11 terrorists were Pakistani nationals and no Indians were involved in the attacks whatsoever.
This ofcourse ties in with the statements that ‘Ajmal Kassab’ apparently wrote, in hindi script, despite being allegedly a Pakistani national, and the videos freely available on youtube of the 26/11 terrorists talking in hindi, not urdu, to the media.
Schoolboy error.
Two public officials – the Navy chief and a deputy attorney general – together have destroyed Rehman Malik’s case of ‘admission of guilt’ in Mumbai attacks. The government has fired the deputy attorney general for taking a stand, but no one in the Pakistani media noticed since it is busy in the latest Pakistani political circus. But it is this story that could unravel this staunchly pro-U.S. setup.
February 28th 2009 | Ahmed Quraishi
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Two developments in Pakistan have thwarted the deliberate effort of Pakistan’s pro-U.S. government to take the Mumbai investigations on a path that leads to placing the blame on the Pakistani military and intelligence.
The two developments, one by a public prosecutor and the other by the Pakistani military, confirms that the Zardari government, and especially his confidant and interior adviser Rehman Malik, deliberately led Pakistan into acquiescence to American and Indian demands by accepting partial responsibility for Mumbai attacks without verifiable evidence. It also raises questions about the motives of this government.
The first development took place on Feb. 18, when Zardari government’s special public prosecutor in the Mumbai attacks Sardar Mohammad Ghazi issued a statement saying Islamabad is formally requesting India to extradite Ajmal Kassab, the alleged lone survivor of the Mumbai attacks. This was a surprising statement considering how the Zardari government unilaterally accepted – on behalf of Pakistan – every single piece of questionable Indian and American ‘evidence’ linking the attacks to elements with past links to Pakistani intelligence.
Sardar’s statement shook the Indians and the Americans, who lobbied hard to ensure Pakistan accepted some responsibility for the attacks as a prelude to implicating Pakistan’s ISI.
Pakistani investigators have yet to independently confirm that Kassab is indeed a Pakistani citizen, or that the person in Indian custody is indeed Ajmal Kassab.
Just as we had predicted, the Mumbai Police has planted a story in the Indian media today claiming Ajmal Kassab’s life is in danger from Dawood Ibrahim’s gang, allegedly linked to Pakistani Intelligence services.
The Times of India claims, ‘Sources from the intelligence agencies said that underworld don Chhota Shakeel, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, has been given a contract to kill Kasab. According to an intelligence sources, the plot came to light on January 29.’
PKKH originally reported ‘Ajmal Kassab’s’ death on January 27th, putting the Indian authorities on the backfoot. The denials came thick and fast. The Times of India even went to the extent of producing an old photograph of Kassab and, bizzarely, claiming to have ‘nailed Pakistan’s lies’.
We also reported, on January 31st:
Despite the denial by Indian authorities, PKKH understands through its sources in Mumbai that the lone gunman arrested in the wake of the Mumbai attacks and identified since as ‘Amir Ajmal Kassab’ has been dead for over two weeks.
The Mumbai Police had originally intended to announce his death this week – in a supposed ’shootout’ at the Arthur road jail – pinning the blame on ‘Pakistan-controlled gangsters’ with links to Dawood Ibrahim.
If Ajmal Kassab is indeed alive, as the Indian authorities continue to try and convince us, why has he not been allowed access to? Bring him in front of the media, let the truth be known.
Related:
Kassab: New Photo, New Questions.
Surprise Surprise: Another ‘Kassab’ No Show
Indian Response to PKKH Report on Kasab’s Death
Ajmal Kassab: Dead
“Pakistan’s Claims Fall Flat” – screams the headline on Times of India this morning.
‘Nailing Pakistan’s claims that Ajmal Kasab was ‘dead’, TV channel Times Now has got access to the latest pictures of the lone surviving terrorist of the November 26, Mumbai attacks.’ – it says.
Strange that, when on the very same page they admit “There is, however, no clear indication about when this picture was taken or where, because the terrorist is not dressed in any prison gear, casually clad in a t-shirt and brown pants. ” [link]
So basically, the photograph labelled as ‘latest’ by TOI could well have been taken weeks ago, if not months (if reports of his kidnapping from Nepal in 2006 are to be believed.)
Times of India had previously linked PKKH to the ISI – claiming that ‘Reports which security sources suspect to have been planted by Pakistani official agencies, Islamabad alleges that captured Mumbai terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab is actually dead.’
Needless to say, it is the latest example of extremely poor and lazy journalism by a publication that is read by millions in India and is one of the leading newspapers worldwide in terms of circulation figures.
It seems as if the Indian media has taken a leaf out of Bollywood’s book – which thrives on the avoidance of reality by absorption of the mind in entertainment or imaginative situations / activities – in coming up with ‘reports’ that are far, far from reality.
UPDATE: CNN IBN with the same claims as TOI – Call it an ‘Exclusive!’
CNN-IBN are reporting on the same story, and claiming that the above photograph has been ‘exclusively made available to CNN-IBN by highly placed sources in the Mumbai’. LINK
Bizzarely, both the reports in TOI and CNN-IBN have failed to put a date on this photograph, which means they could well have been taken immediately after Kassab’s ‘arrest’.
Further to PKKH’s exclusive report last week, we can now confirm that the Mumbai Police have once again failed to produce Ajmal ‘Kassab’ in court today (February 2nd, 2009).
The Mumbai Police has previously failed to produce Kassab in court TWICE – on December 11th and more recently on January 19th.
Indian authorities have repeatedly denied media access to Ajmal Kassab and have turned down requests from the Pakistani authorities for a DNA sample for Kassab. This is consistent with the inability of the Indian authorities to provide any information (finger prints, DNA) of the other nine alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai Attacks.
PKKH reported earlier after recieving information from sources in Mumbai, that Ajmal Kassab no longer exists. [Read Full Report]
It is also worthwhile to note that during January 15th to 20th, a number of stories were planted in the Indian media by the Indian security agencies in an attempt to sound out the possibility of announcing Kassab’s death in a “Pakistani controlled gang murdering Kassab” scenario – that is, the second episode of Mumbai drama.
Read: Kassab: Dead?
In response to PakistanKaKhudaHafiz (PKKH)’s exclusive report about Kassab’s death, the Maharashtra government on Friday said the lone terrorist arrested in 26/11 Mumbai attacks is very much alive.
“Kassab is in Mumbai police custody and very much alive,” state Home Minister Jayant Patil said. [Rediff]
In addition to the Home Minister, the Mumbai Police Commissioner also denied the reports of Kassab’s death.
“Kassab is safe in our custody,” Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor told PTI.
PKKH understands that Mumbai Police had originally intended to announce his death this week – in a supposed ‘shootout’ at the Arthur road jail – pinning the blame on ‘Pakistan-controlled gangsters’ with links to Dawood Ibrahim.
PakistanKaKhudaHafiz Exclusive
The lone captured terrorist and alleged Pakistani citizen Ajmal Kassab is dead, sources tell PKKH. Whether he was killed in custody immediately after the Mumbai attacks or in recent days is yet to be confirmed.
On Monday 19th January, Kassab was remanded in police custody until February 2nd. It is important to note that he was not brought to court on this occasion.
Earlier, police in Mumbai had backed off of plans to produce Kasab in court on Thursday December 11th for a routine hearing, citing security concerns.
Indian authorities have repeatedly denied media access to Ajmal Kassab and have turned down requests from the Pakistani authorities for a DNA sample for Kassab. This is consistent with the inability of the Indian authorities to provide any information (finger prints, DNA) of the other nine alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai Attacks.
Due to the nature of this information and the lack of verifiable sources, we are not able to confirm or dismiss the reports of Kassab’s death at the moment. However, India’s reluctance to allow the Pakistani authorities access to Kassab and refusal to carry out a joint investigation certainly raises questions about the authenticity of Indian claims.
On a separate note, the leading Dutch daily newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ reports that the Indian authorities will be investigating the role of right-wing politicians in Mumbai massacre. It also reports that Ajmal Kassab was already under arrest at the time of the Mumbai attacks, for an unrelated crime. Below is a rough translation from the article in ‘De Telegraaf’:
“There are indications that Indian politicians and Hindu extremists are behind the attacks in Mumbai last November. It is thought that statesmen of Maharashtra wanted to get rid of the head of the anti-terrorism bureau, Hermant Karkare, whilst putting the blame on Pakistan as reported by Radiance, a weekly magazine. Hemant Karkare was one of the 163 victims killed during the attacks. Karkare was investigating the hindu terrorist group Hindutva suspected to be planning an attack and had received death threats. An independent investigation is underway to find the politicians who demanded Karkare’s resignation and which of them has provided financial means for the attacks. Remarkably, the only gunman who was captured alive, a Pakistani, was already serving a sentence in jail for another crime.”
Updates on this story:
Indian Response to PKKH Report on Kasab’s Death
Surprise Surprise: Another ‘Kassab’ No Show
Times of India – Lazy Journalism
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has criticized the Indian government for asking Pakistan to accept the statement of the lone surviving gunman in the Mumbai attacks as evidence, the Daily Times reported on Tuesday.
‘There is no law in our country that would consider the statement of an arrested person before a top-level police official as evidence,’ he was quoted as saying.
‘Despite the situation, we are trying to convince Pakistan to consider the statement evidence. This is very much contradictory,’ continued Modi. [source] [reaction]
Also checkout: BrassTacks Response to the Mumbai Dossier
War is inevitable in South Asia. Pakistan has no choice but to fight. Bharati (aka Indian) intransigence and insistence on war mongering will inevitably lead to war which surely will escalate to a nuclear exchange. Bharati insistence on punitive sanctions on Pakistan and a host of boycotts is not reverberating with Washington or London. While both capitals are empathetic to towards Delhi, both capitals are unwilling and unable to take action against Islamabad. Bharat’s military strategy banks on archaic and pre-1998 philosophy does not take into account the new realities in South Asia.
Read Full Article | Moin Ansari
