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Ajmal retracts confession, says it was extracted

Mumbai: Mohammad Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’ retracted his confessional statement in court on Friday, his lawyer Abbas Kazmi told the media.

In the application made to the court by Mr. Kazmi, Ajmal alleged that his confession was extracted and his signatures were taken by force. He also alleged physical torture.

Mr. Kazmi said Ajmal told the judge, M.L. Tahaliyani, in Hindi: “It [confession] was taken forcefully and my lawyer is saying what I have told him.”

Mr. Kazmi said the 40-page statement was recorded before the magistrate on February 17, 2009.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam read out excerpts from Ajmal’s confession in court on Friday. Although the judge forbade Mr. Kazmi from giving copies of the confession to the press, he allowed publication of those portions which were read out in court.

In his confession, recorded in Hindi, Ajmal described the training sessions at length, named some of the trainers and some exchanges on Mumbai as the target.

Uncovering a larger motive, Ajmal states: “Amir Hafiz Saeed said, ‘All the Mujahideen have to fight to free Kashmir.’ At this moment Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi said, ‘Now the time for jihad has come. Our community [jamat] has been fighting for Kashmir for 15 years, yet the Indian government [Hindustani siyasat] is not freeing Kashmir. Now we have to wage a war with India and conquer Kashmir’.”

The Special Public Prosecutor, in his opening address on Friday outlined the capture of Kashmir as the larger motive behind the Mumbai terror attacks, calling it a definite object of the criminal conspiracy hatched in Pakistan.

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