Singing canary in a terrorist opera
By Raja Murthy
MUMBAI - "Jihad means to kill, become famous and make God happy," captured
terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab reportedly answered interrogating Mumbai police when
asked to define "jihad", or "holy war", a term some militants use to justify
violence.
Police officials also claimed Kasab could not recite any verse in the Koran,
the Islamic holy book, and that he admitted that money tempted him to enlist in
the November 26 terrorist attack on Mumbai, along with nine others, all of whom
were killed. The seaborne assault last week launched from outside India killed
183 people and injured over 300.
After officially banned Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET)
promised to compensate Kasab's impoverished family
in Faridkot village in Pakistan's Punjab province, Kasab's father asked him to
join the LET a year ago, according to the "confession".
Twenty-one-year old Kasab was captured by Mumbai police at Girgaum Chowpatty on
Marine Drive during their three-night siege of two luxury hotels and a Jewish
community center in south Mumbai.
Kasab is a rare prize: a terrorist captured alive on a suicide mission. He is
also the center of a mystery because there have been no coherent or consistent
accounts of his statements to authorities.
The captured terrorist's contradictory explanations are mirrored in India's
confused official response to what's being described as the world's most
audacious and brutal urban terrorist attack since the September 11, 2001,
attacks on the United States.
Indian and international media professionals for the past week have have not
had access to any coordinated government briefings on the crisis. There is no
spokesperson or even official statements clearly underlining India's position.
For instance, on the afternoon of December 2, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee
ruled out India launching military action against Pakistan. By night, however,
Mukherjee was reported to have said nothing was ruled out on how to respond to
Pakistan.
On December 3, Mukherjee declared that India's response will be based on what
action Pakistan takes to deliver on Indian demands, such as handing over a list
of "20 Most Wanted" fugitives said to be in Pakistan.
But later that day, Mukherjee silently stormed past reporters asking him to
respond to news that Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had bluntly refused to
hand over any fugitive to India.
In the absence of a strong leader to calm, reassure and direct a shocked
nation, India's ministers, officials, generals, admirals and police officials
appear to be irresponsibly ad-libbing in front of TV cameras and media persons.
India's lack of leadership was conspicuous on the evening of December 3 as
hundreds of thousands of citizens took to the streets in nationwide marches in
which angry participants demanded action. Pakistan's silence has added to
public fury.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flew to Bangalore to attend a function
while New Delhi boiled in a crisis with global ramifications, and an estimated
100,000 Mumbai residents marched to the Gateway of India near the Taj Mahal
hotel seized by terrorists a week ago. Manmohan is yet to visit Mumbai since
the terrorists' strike.
The government mishandling of the events of the past week come off like a badly
directed terrorist opera. The only thing keeping the situation from appearing
farcical are the 183 people from over 10 countries who lost their lives, and
the subsequent aggressive posturing of nuclear-armed neighbors.
Matching India's tragic confusion this week, are the differing "confessions" of
LET-recruit Kasab which are splashing across Indian and international media
through a series of unnamed sources.
Kasab is to appear in court December 11. According to Indian law, he has the
right to disown his entire confession made to the police by claiming was made
under duress.
Fifteen Mumbai police officers are interrogating Kasab. Apparently each one is
sneaking his version of proceedings to media contacts, with the Maharashtra
state government too busy with its own woes to plug leaks. After a week-long
struggle for survival, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was sacked on
Wednesday. The firing followed the resignations of Indian home minister Shivraj
Patil and Mumbai counterpart R R Patil.
With the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Israeli police and Scotland Yard
joining in the interrogations, more versions of Kasab's statements can be
expected until Mumbai police reveal videos of his recorded testimony.
Kasab's name and nationality were confirmed by Mumbai Police Commissioner
Hassan Gafoor on December 2 in his first press conference after the terrorist
attacks.
The rest of Kasab's alleged confessions appear to be bewildering
contradictions. According to one version, Kasab confessed to being a small-time
pickpocket in Pakistan who joined the LET to get arms training to further his
career in crime.
In another version, the captured terrorist allegedly said he was just an
impoverished village youth with little education. But one early report claimed
that he speaks fluent English.
According to other reports, Kasab said he was sent on a suicide mission after
promises of money and a Kashmiri bride.
The Mumbai police have neither denied nor confirmed any reported statements of
this suicidal terrorist who is apparently singing like the proverbial canary to
his captors.
The Mumbai daily Afternoon Dispatch & Courier twirled another version on
December 2. Quoting "sources", the report said interrogating senior police
officers suspected Kasab and his fellow terrorists had been using drugs like
LSD to induce the daring and stamina needed to last the 60-hour siege without
sleep. The use of mind-altering drugs was also used to explain the
inconsistency of Kasab's statements.
India's Muslim leaders moved quickly to distance Islam from terrorists. Muslim
religious leaders have refused to allow burial of the nine terrorists in Muslim
cemeteries in Mumbai and across India, saying terrorists who attacked India
should not be buried in "holy Indian soil ".
"The terrorists do not deserve to be buried as Muslims because killing and
harming anyone is not permitted in Islam," Mohammad Farooq, elderly owner of a
perfume shop in Mohammad Ali Road, told Asia Times Online on a visit Mumbai's
Muslim-majority area on December 3. "As a Muslim, I'm not even permitted to
slap you."
The Mohammad Ali Road area, barely two kilometers away from the main railway
station that terrorists struck a week ago, was bustling peacefully. Protest
marchers, including many Muslims, had gathered across the city to denounce
terrorists. There was no trace of tension, or fear of a communal backlash from
the majority community.
"We Indian Muslims are happy and I have been here for 55 years," said perfume
shop owner Farooq, who handed over a small booklet of the Koran. "People in
Pakistan who wrongly think Muslims in India are suffering can come and see for
themselves instead of believing propaganda."
As the evening sky blushed red to welcome the night, the strong fragrance from attar
(flower-based perfume) shops mingled with the smoky smell of kebabs and freshly
baked bread and wafted through the congested, narrow cobblestone area of
minarets and mosques, burqa-clad women and men in skull caps. This
Muslim-majority area in the heart of Mumbai could be been mistaken for Old
Delhi, Lahore, Karachi, Tehran, Istanbul or Baghdad.
"The tragedy is that most Muslims don't really read the Koran," said Younis,
partner of Taj Publishers, near the Gulshan-e-Iran restaurant, which prints and
exports copies of the Islamic holy book. "For 65 years in this work, I see
people buying the Holy Book, but not reading it. Understanding it is far away."
Perhaps if Kasab the loose-lipped terrorist and his kind had tried to
understand the Koran, the blood-soaked nightmare of November 26 might never
have happened.
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Twenty-one-year old Kasab was captured by Mumbai police at Girgaum Chowpatty on
Marine Drive during their three-night siege of two luxury hotels and a Jewish
community center in south Mumbai.
