26/11: A Pakistani judicial panel will travel to Mumbai today

A Pakistani judicial commission which arrived here on Wednesday will visit Mumbai today to record the statements of Ramesh Mahale, an investigating officer, and RV Sawant Waghule, the magistrate who recorded the confessional statement of the lone surviving Pakistani gunman, Ajmal Kasab, according to government sources.

According to official sources, the team will leave for Mumbai today and record the statements on March 16 and 17.

Ahead of their arrival, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of the Esplanade court in south Mumbai issued summons to magistrate RV Sawant Waghule, who had recorded Kasab's confession, and crime branch officer Ramesh Mahale, who was the investigating officer in the November 26, 2008 terror strike by Lashker-e-Toiba terrorists in Mumbai.

The judicial commission comprises of eight members, four defence lawyers, two prosecutors, a member from the joint investigation team and a court official.

The commission members include Special Public Prosecutors Zulfikar Ali Chaudhari and Mohd. Azhar Choudhary, Khwaja Haris, Fakhar Hayat, Riyaz Akram Choudhary, Raja Ahsanullah Khan, Isam Bin Haris and Azad Khan.

Kasab was among 10 Pakistanis who attacked Mumbai Nov 26, 2008, and unleashed a mayhem in the city that killed 166 people and injured several others.

The judicial panel will also question Nair Hospital medical officer (forensic department) Shailesh Mohit and state government-run JJ Hospital's medical officer (forensic department) Ganesh Nitukar, who conducted the autopsies of the terrorists and victims.

Special Public Prosecutor in the 26/11 terror attack trial Ujjwal Nikam would accompany Indian officers to be questioned by the Pakistani panel.

Waghule and Mahale have been summoned March 16, said sources. The statements of the doctors will be recorded March 17.

The panel will present the statements of the four Indians related to the probe before an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan, which is conducting trial against seven suspects who are currently in Pakistani custody for their alleged role in the 26/11 carnage.

The suspects include Lashkar-e-Toiba's Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind behind planning, financing and executing the Mumbai terror attacks.

Nikam, who represented the Maharashtra government in the trial against Kasab, has been appointed to assist the commission which will examine the witnesses at the Esplanade court itself.

Islamabad has contended that the charges against the seven Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were based on Kasab's statement and hence the magistrate and the investigating officer's statements were necessary to be furnished before the anti-terror court.

Last year, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik had said that Kasab, convicted by an Indian court for the 26/11 terror attack, should be hanged.

Pakistan contends that the judicial commission's report will quicken the trial of the seven terrorists in Pakistani custody.

"Once that commission will go to India, its findings are important for the judicial process in Pakistan. When the findings are there, they will be covering all the legal sides. Then there will be some judicially-satisfactory statements," he had said.

SC to decide Kasab’s plea to commute his death or life imprisonment

The Supreme Court is set to hear Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab’s plea to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. Kasab, who is the sole convict in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case, has citied his age and being not part of the larger conspiracy, as the basis on which he seeks leniency.

Yesterday, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who has been appointed as amicus curiae by the apex court to defend Kasab, told a bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam that Kasab was drawn into the conspiracy by exploitation of religious faith and false ideology.

"The choice before the Supreme Court is life (imprisonment) and irreversible death penalty. It would not be prudent to affirm the extreme penalty," Ramachandran said.

"Even if I am guilty under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the IPC and other provisions, it cannot be said that I was a part of the larger conspiracy of waging war," he submitted on behalf of Kasab.

Maintaining that the prosecution has failed to prove the case against him beyond doubts, he told the bench that his right against self-incrimination as well as his right to get himself adequately represented by a counsel to defend himself in the case have been violated during the trial.

The apex court had on October 10 last year stayed the death sentence of 24-year-old Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist involved in the November, 2008, Mumbai attack.

In the special leave petition filed by Kasab challenging the Bombay High Court judgement, he claimed he was brainwashed like a "robot" into committing the heinous crime in the name of "God" and that he does not deserve capital punishment owing to his young age.

Kasab has been lodged in Arthur Road prison in Mumbai and had moved the SLP through jail authorities. He had challenged his conviction and death sentence in the terror attack case.

Kasab, along with nine other Pakistani terrorists, had landed at Budhwar Park in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008, night after travelling from Karachi by sea and had gone on a shooting spree at various city landmarks, leaving 166 people dead and many more wounded.

While Kasab was captured, the other terrorists in the group were killed by police in counter-terror operations. He was sentenced to death by a special anti-terror court on May 6, 2010.

The Bombay High Court had on February 21, 2011, upheld the trial court order of death sentence to Kasab for the "brutal and diabolical" attacks aimed at "destabilising" the government.

Kasab's death penalty was upheld on charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law -- Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The High Court had upheld Kasab's conviction on 19 counts under the IPC, Arms Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act, the Foreigners Act, the Passport Act and the Railway Act.

26/11 attack: NIA chargesheets David Headley and 8 others

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday chargesheeted David Headley and eight others for plotting terror attacks in India.

The chargesheet came days after the government gave its go ahead to book nine people including Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and two ISI officers for plotting terror attacks in India including 26/11 Mumbai strikes.

Besides Headley and Saeed, the Home Ministry had given sanction to NIA to prosecute 26/11 attacks mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Headley's accomplice and Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana and al-Qaeda operative Illyas Kashmiri.

Sajid Malik, handler of Headley, and Abdul Rehman Hashmi have also been named in the chargesheet besides two officers Major Iqbal and Major Samir Ali, believed to be working for Pakistan's snooping agency, the ISI.

The sanction of prosecution against the nine was accorded after a legal opinion of the Law Ministry was obtained.

They have been named in the chargesheet for waging war against the country under the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NIA had registered a case against 50-year-old Headley and Rana on November 12, 2009 and later on added other names after investigation by central security agencies showed a large set of people involved in terror activities against the country.

Both Headley and Rana are at present in custody of US authorities and NIA has only got a limited access to Headley, who had entered into plea bargain with US authorities to escape harsh sentence.

India to Pak: Provide justice to 26/11 victims

On the third anniversary of the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks, India on Saturday once again urged Pakistan on providing speedy justice to the victims to the deadly strikes.

Addressing a press conference, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna called on Pakistan to bring perpetrators of 26/11 attacks to justice, adding the evidence so far provided to Islamabad was sufficient for civil courts.

Krishna told, "We are still waiting for Pakistan to act decisively to bring to justice the perpetrators of the mindless violence that was unleashed on Mumbai. We are still waiting."

"I think the evidence provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs would be sufficient for any normal civilian court to prosecute the people involved in the conspiracy and the perpetrators of this crime," Krishna said.

"I once again call on our neighbour to bring the perpetrators of the crime to speedy justice," he said.

There can be no selective fight against terrorism, Krishna underlined.

"The scourge of terrorism has to be comprehensively fought and eradicated in all its forms and manifestations," he said.

The minister reminded Pakistan that there was no place for use of terror as state policy, adding it is self-destructive.

He said issues have to be resolved through peaceful dialogue and in an atmosphere free from terror and violence.

On the issue of a Pakistani judicial commission visiting India, Krishna said the modalities for the same were being worked out.

"It has been agreed in principle. Let us wait for the dates," he said.

Krishna said India was committed to having a peaceful, friendly and cooperative relationship with all its neighbours for progress and prosperity in the region.

"We call upon all our neighbours to join us in this endeavour of building a better future for our peoples," he said.

Krishna also paid homage to the victims and martyrs of the terror attacks in Mumbai.

"I join my countrymen in paying respectful homage to the innocent men, women and children whose lives were most tragically snuffed out by the inhuman act of terrorism, inspired and carried out from across our borders, three year ago, on this day, in Mumbai," he said.

"We also salute the courage and fortitude of the families who lost their loved ones in that senseless act of violence," he said.

Nation remembers victims of 26/11 terror attacks today

India paid homage to the victims and martyrs of the 26/11 terror attacks on its third anniversary here on today.

Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan laid a wreath at the 26/11 memorial at the Police Gymkhana on Marine Drive in South Mumbai.

He was followed by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state Home Minister RR Patil, top police and civil officials.

Later, the family members of many of the policemen who were martyred while battling the terrorists, also laid wreaths at the memorial.

Thousands of commuters on the Central Railway paused briefly at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), one of the sites targeted by 10 Pakistani terrorists in 2008.

Some kept flowers in memory of the commuters killed by the terrorists, who sneaked into the city unhindered through the Arabian Sea and created mayhem in the city.

Similar homage functions were held at the Hotel Taj Mahal, Hotel Trident, Nariman House, Cama Hospital and at Chowpatty - the last being the venue where brave policeman Tukaram Ombale managed to catch one of the terrorists - Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab - alive.

Ombale was killed in the process.

The terror attacks left 166 dead, including several security personnel and foreigners besides over 300 people injured.