“Ajmal Kasab, who was caught in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case and was later hanged, is alive”, the key witness, said in the past, and even stuck to the same now.   

The level of terror created by the terrorists, killing several people, in Mumbai’s Taj hotel is still giving the sleepless nights, to the families affected due to the incident and also the hotel officials. After Kasab was hanged, several Indians were happy about it and appreciated the judicial system.

But it seems, there are few suspicions in Kasab’s hanging after a key witness gave a different version over the issue.

Regarding the case, yesterday, the court hearing was held by the Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad judge at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi.

Speaking on the issue, a court official said, “Mudassir Lakhvi, the headmaster of a primary school in Faridkot, where Ajmal Kasab studied for three years told the court that he taught Kasab and he is alive.”

“The headmaster caused a lot of embarrassment for the prosecution team by claiming that Ajmal Kasab is alive. He was supposed to present the record of the period during which Ajmal Kasab studied in the school and other relevant record but talked otherwise. The prosecution also failed to properly examine him,” the official added.

The official doubted that, the headmaster might have been under accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s pressure, as both are the natives of the same town.

In May 2014, the headmaster said that, Kasab is alive. Then, the prosecution moved an application to examine him again on the ground that the witness turned ‘hostile’.

But to the shock, he stuck to the same, even after he was summoned yesterday. He made  no reference to Kasab’s hanging in India and even did not mention, whether Kasab studied in a school in Faridkot. Earlier, the headmaster also claimed that, if needed, Kasab could be produced in court.

The next court hearing would be held on December 16. India blames Pakistan-based militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba for organizing the attack in Mumbai, that killed 166 people. In the beginning, Pakistani authorities had denied that, Kasab being a Pakistani national, but had later confirmed that, the only surviving attacker belonged to Pakistan.

In November 2012, in a Pune jail, Kasab was reportedly hanged. The trial against LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Sadiq, Shahid Jamil, Jamil Ahmed and Younas Anjum, has been underway since 2009, for their alleged role in the Mumbai attacks.

In December 2014, Lakhvi got the bail and was released in April, from the Adiala Jail,  after the Lahore High Court set aside, the government’s order to detain him under a public security act. He is currently out on bail and his existence is not known.

By Phani Ch