The only terrorist captured alive in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai was sentenced to death on Thursday by an Indian court. Ajmal Amir Kasab, a 22-year-old Pakistani, was convicted on Monday of murder, conspiracy and waging war on India for his part in the three-day rampage by 10 gunmen which killed 166 people and broke off peace talks between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan. The death penalty, which in India is carried out by hanging, must be confirmed by a higher court.
The following report was written before the sentencing was announced.
KOLKATA - India's notoriously sluggish judiciary has been hailed for reaching a
relatively speedy verdict in the trial of the lone surviving gunman who was
captured during the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai. The guilty judgment on
Pakistani Ajmal Amir Kasab is also seen as a significant milestone in achieving
justice for terror victims.
However, even as India celebrates the conclusion of this complex and very
high-profile case, experts feel the judgment is of little significance; after
months of high-decibel claims, the government has done little to strike terror
at its roots.
"He was just a dead man walking; a pawn to the handlers who sent him to commit
the attacks, and one who has served his
purpose," said Ajai Sahni, founder and director of the New Delhi-based
Institute of Conflict Management, a non-profit consultancy that provides
services on terrorism and internal security to a number of governments,
including India.
"What is significant is the trajectory, and the capacity of the state to fight
terror. Just by convicting one terrorist, India has not been able to send any
message to other terrorists. The architects of the attack are still alive and
thriving, and what can and is India doing about altering that trajectory of
terror? Nothing," Sahni told Asia Times Online.
"This judgment is just trying to score a brownie point in the international
fight against terror," Sahni said.
A special court in Mumbai headed by judge M L Tahaliyani on Monday found Kasab,
22, guilty of the murder of seven people directly and 65 others in common
intent with his dead partner, Abu Ismail. He was also convicted for waging war
against India, conspiring against the country, attempted murder, kidnapping,
robbery and, most notably, guilty of being a member of the Pakistan-based
terrorist-cum-religious outfit, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The gun and bomb attacks killed 166 people and injured hundreds of others. The
nine other attackers were killed by security forces during assaults on the
city's main railway station, a restaurant, Jewish center and a luxury hotel.
The violence lasted three days.
Ujjwal Nikam, the public prosecutor, wants the death penalty to be applied.
Sentencing was due to be given late on Tuesday. Two other men, both Indians,
were acquitted on Monday of charges relating to the attacks.
Kasab changed his story several times during the trial, at one stage confessing
and describing his training and commanders before later withdrawing the
confession. A later plea change to guilty was rejected by the judge.
India's Home Minister P Chidambaram welcomed the verdict and said it sent a
clear message to Pakistan that "they should not export terror to India. If they
do, and if the terrorists are apprehended, we will be able to give them
exemplary punishment."
Pakistan has requested Kasab's extradition as a witness against Zaki Rehman
Lakhvi, the LeT's military commander charged with masterminding the attacks
along with six others. India believes Pakistan already has enough evidence to
convict the masterminds, but lacks the political will to do so.
Monday's judgment said the attack was not just a terror attack but war on India
that was elaborately planned and conducted by trained gunmen who used a huge
quantity of arms and ammunition, as well as high-technology equipment such as
mobile and satellite phones, global positioning systems and the Internet though
voice-over-Internet protocol.
"A war-like situation was created [where] Marcos [marine] and NSG [National
Security Guard] commandos were called in to eliminate them. The resistance of
the accused is an indicator of their determination to fight a war and that it
was not a simple case of murder," Tahaliyani said, highlighting key points in
his over 1,500 pages of judgment.
However, the acquittal of the two Indians has dealt a big blow to the
investigative abilities of the country's security agencies, with the judge
acquitting Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed of all charges on the grounds of
"doubtful" evidence. The two were nabbed for allegedly helping the Mumbai
operation by providing hand-sketched maps and other aids.
These acquittals, according to experts, not only punch more holes into the
credibility of the evidence gathered by the Indian security agencies against
the terrorists; they make it difficult as well for India to demand the trial of
Lakhvi.
Ansari and Ahmed were believed to be working with Lakhvi, whom Pakistan refuses
to acknowledge as either a terrorist or a mastermind behind the Mumbai attacks.
"The acquittal of these two suspects is actually more significant than the
verdict on Kasab, because persons like Lakhvi were one of the key elements of
the terror attacks. Kasab was just one of the low-level perpetrators, and all
the main culprits are still out there," said Praveen Swamy, associate editor of
a leading Indian daily and an acknowledged expert on terrorism analysis.
"The key question to ask is that while India followed the process of law, what
is the country as well as the world doing about punishing the perpetrators of
the attack who are not on Indian soil?"
Terror consultant Sahni adds, "Everyone is acting on the premise that Pakistan
has to be kept alive and stable because we are living in a world where the
stable nations are unwilling to fight and the unstable countries are holding
everyone to ransom. In the process, instead of forcing Pakistan to address the
terrorism that is thriving on its soil, not just America, but India too is
encouraging and even underwriting Pakistan."
According to the Institute of Conflict Management (ICM), Pakistan is one of the
US's greatest challenges in fighting the global menace of terrorism. However,
to ensure stability in Pakistan, the US in particular showers Islamabad with
aid that many believe is not used to fight terrorism.
The ICM is particularly critical of the US$7.5 billion in non-military aid
given to Pakistan by the US in October last year.
"Curiously, augmenting US aid to Pakistan has come at a time when President
[Barack] Obama explicitly recognizes that the civilian government there is very
fragile and does not seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services," says
the ICM. "Worse, despite the apparent magnitude of aid flowing into Pakistan,
these are paltry amounts in terms of the sheer demographic explosion and
developmental deficits in the country. Far from addressing the country's
poverty and backwardness, infusions of foreign aid have historically acted as
no more than bribes to the national elites - military and political - to secure
minimal compliance with reduced US and Western policy objectives."
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been criticized for his recent
decision taken at Thimpu, Bhutan, to resume bilateral talks with Pakistan that
were stalled following the Mumbai attacks.
The argument goes that a lenient India would be detrimental to both countries'
efforts in fighting the thriving militancy within Pakistan's borders.
Indrajit Basu is a correspondent for Asia Times Online based in Kolkata.
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