Ajmal’s confession

The case of Ajmal is becoming curiouser and curiouser. At first, he was in the denial mode, later he prevaricated and now comes a stunning confession of the sequence of events leading to the dastardly deed. There is more to it than meets the eye. The confession appears to be not the genuine outpourings of a terrorist stricken by remorse. How can one explain his adroit avoiding of any reference to the Lashkar-e-Taiba leader?

The way in which Mohammad Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’ has admitted to his crime should raise doubts about his intentions. However, he has shifted the responsibility to his dead colleague Abu Ismail as regards opening firing and killing people. Ajmal’s abrupt pleading gives rise to many suspicions. Further, his reference to an “Abu Jundal,” an Indian who taught them Hindi, raises more suspicion. This also seems to mislead the trail. Punishing Ajmal alone will not bring justice to the victims of the Mumbai carnage. Our investigating agencies have to go to the roots and expose the mastermind behind the terror strike and punish him.

It is not surprising that Pakistan does not take Ajmal’s confession seriously. If the proceedings in this case are further delayed, there is every possibility that Pakistan may pressure India into releasing Ajmal in exchange for Sarabjit, the Indian who has been awarded the death sentence in Pakistan for alleged bomb blasts.

It appears that belated confessions are selective in nature and will not help unravel the entire conspiracy behind the 26/11 plot. It could even be a strategy to divert attention from the identity of the real mastermind who planned the deadly attacks. The role of state actors in training terrorists is something Pakistan would not like to admit.

Ajmal is not merely an individual. He represents an ideology which does not believe in the rule of law and respect for human beings. He is indeed a test case for India which has been following the norms of justice despite grave provocation. We should not be misled by his tactics.

Ajmal should get life imprisonment. He will be more useful to India in the long run. The four and-a-half hour confession is not enough to know the whereabouts of criminals who were handlers and are protected by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and its military.