Kasab’s statement submitted to SC

ISLAMABAD: The lawyer of an accused in the Mumbai terrorist attack case submitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday an English rendering of Ajmal Kasab’s confessional statement, the lone surviving attacker who was recently convicted by an Indian court before it was adjourned for two weeks.

The original confessional statement is in Hindi script. The case is being heard by a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Other members of the bench are Justice Ghulam Rabbani and Justice Khalilur-Rehman Ramday. “You should have submitted this (document) earlier, so that we could study it” the Chief Justice remarked when Raja Sultan, the counsel of Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi submitted the statement before the bench. Raja Sultan pleaded that he had sent the document a day ago, but the registrar’s office had not received it.

Sultan argued that Ajmal was called by the magistrate on Feb 18 to record his confessional statement, but was sent back without doing so. He said that he was called the next day again but was sent back with recording any statement for 48 hours. “The confessional statement bearing Kasab’s signature appears on Feb 21.”

The Chief Justice said that he and other judges needed time to go through the 50-page-long statement and adjourned the case for two weeks. Meanwhile, Raja Sultan told The Express Tribune that the Lahore High Court had already said that their plea was technically sound because of which his client had approached the apex court to stop Lakhwi’s trial in anti-terrorism court.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 12th,  2010.