India's Dodgy Dossier on Mumbai

On 10 January 2009, at The Daily Times, we read:

A question of evidence by Shaukat Qadir

(Qadir is a retired brigadier and former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute IPRI)

Among the points made:

1. The Indian government has handed over to Pakistan the 'evidence' collected regarding the alleged involvement of Pakistani personnel in the Mumbai attacks.

Reportedly, this is Kasab, and he may not be from Pakistan.

2. The evidence consists of:

(1) a 'confession' by Ajmal Kasab, in which he has named his nine companions in the attack and

(2) a letter to the Pakistani High Commissioner in India, seeking his help as a Pakistani citizen.

3. Both these documents are in Hindi.

It is highly unlikely that Kasab, a 'Pakistani', whose natural language would be Urdu, would write to the high commissioner, in his own hand, in Hindi, even if he had learnt the language.

"That is the first thing that makes both these documents suspect."

4. "It would be natural for Pakistani authorities to assume that the confession was made under duress; which would make it inadmissible in any court."

5. Kasab’s confession names only the nine companions killed by Indian security forces.

"It would be a physical impossibility for ten individuals to attack nine different locations simultaneously, wreak the havoc they did, hold people hostage, and successfully hold off against the hordes of Indian security forces for sixty-two hours."

Maulana Masood Azhar who has links to the CIA. (Source: Agence France-Presse/ Getty Images)

6. After obtaining Kasab’s 'confession', India initially accused Maulana Masood Azhar, a Pakistani 'militant' and the founder of the group Jaish-e-Mohammed, based mainly in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

(Masood Azhar has worked for the CIA. - Role of alleged CIA asset in Mumbai attacks being downplayed)

(Initially press reports had said that Dawood Ibrahim was the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks. Ibrahim has, reportedly, been a CIA asset. - Role of alleged CIA asset in Mumbai attacks being downplayed)

LAKHVI

Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT which works in Kashmir) was not on India’s list.

Now, reportedly, Kasab has named Lakhvi.

7. India refers to 'decoded Skype phone calls' made over the internet; Pakistani cell telephone numbers of individuals that the attackers supposedly spoke to; and T-shirts, shaving creams, toothpaste etc. recovered from the hijacked boat they came ashore in, which are of Pakistani origin.

Any court of law would not accept this as sufficient prima facie evidence to consider the individuals India has named as 'accused'.


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