NEW DELHI, March 21: The trial of the lone surviving suspect from the Nov 26-29 Mumbai terrorist attacks is expected to begin on Monday and police have demanded death penalty for the suspect Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman, also known as Ajmal Kasab.

The suspect, a Pakistani national, has been in police custody since the attacks and faces trial for murder and “waging war against India.”

“We have demanded the death penalty for him,” Jayant Patil, home minister for the state of Maharashtra, told reporters.

The penalty has been called for because it was the rarest of rare cases, he said.

Kasab is accused of being part of a 10-man group that killed 165 people in the killing spree and belonging to the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Nine gunmen were killed by Indian commandos during the

attacks. Both Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistan have denied any involvement in the attacks but Islamabad did admit recently that the strikes were partly planned on its soil, and acknowledged that Kasab is a Pakistani.

Two Indian nationals have also been charged for allegedly giving logistical support to the attackers.

Meanwhile, India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday the government

had “overwhelming evidence” that “official agencies” of Pakistan were involved in the Mumbai attacks.

Mr Chidambaram also accused Pakistan in a TV interview to be aired on Sunday of doing nothing to dismantle “the infrastructure of terrorism” on its soil.

“Given the overwhelming evidence we have, I am entitled to presume that official agencies (of Pakistan) were involved (in the attacks),” he said.

The minister, who gave no details of the Indian evidence, said the threat faced by India from Pakistan-based militants remained virtually undiminished since the attacks.

There was no reaction form Pakistan to the statement.

Asked if Pakistan had dismantled militant infrastructure on its turf, Mr Chidambaram told India’s CNN-IBN network that “none” of the militant training camps had been destroyed “to the best of my knowledge”.

The Pakistanis were only breaking up “training camps that mushroom in villages with ‘kutcha’ (temporary) structures” and “can be dismantled and erected elsewhere,” he said.

India said last week it had given Pakistan more details on the attacks and it was now time for Islamabad to take swift action against the planners of the Mumbai attacks.

Mr Chidambaram said India would “apply pressure” and “use coercive diplomacy” to ensure those guilty were brought to trial even if Pakistan has “neither the time nor the inclination.”—AFP
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