kasb's partial confession

The 26/11 special court on Thursday will deliver its judgement on whether to accept lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab’s partial confession of his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. Kasab had surprised all with his confessions, over the last three days, detailing his role in carrying out the November 26, 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai. He has also asked the Special Judge ML Tahilyani to stop the trial and announce the verdict. While rejecting fears that he was confessing under pressure, Kasab had went to the extent of asking to be hanged if need be and that he was not admitting to his guilt to get a lesser sentence. If the judge accepts Kasab's guilty plea, it could be the end of what could otherwise have been a lengthy trial. The prosecution led by Special Public Prosecutor Ujwal Nikam has been claiming that Kasab was not revealing the entire truth and that his confession is a ploy to seek leniency in punishment and hide facts about the bigger conspiracy behind the attacks. “He has 86 charges against him, but he has only admitted to the CST incident. He is trying to take minimum responsibility,” Nikam told the court yesterday. Nikam further stated that it seems Kasab was also trying to shield his LeT handlers based in Pakistan from investigations. “Kasab is trying to shift the responsibility onto his accomplice Abu Ismail, who is dead. Kasab is playing a smart game,” Nikam said. He wants the court to put the admission of guilt on record, so that it can be “acted upon” later, but not to accept it now with all the contradictions it contains. “The omissions are of a serious nature... the statement should be taken on record and the trial should proceed.” Nikam said the statement, nevertheless, puts the prosecution in a better position to complete the case within a month. “We aim at concluding the case in a month. The defence doesn’t have much to argue now. But we don’t take Kasab’s claims at face value,” said Nikam. On the other hand, defence lawyer Abbas Kazmi has claimed that his client was being tortured and that he made the confession on Monday (July 20) under pressure. However, his claim fell flat when Kasab made it clear that he wasn’t under any pressure. Until now, over 133 witnesses have been examined in the different cases of the 26/11 attacks filed against Kasab. Kasab has been charged with murder, conspiracy and waging war against India along with other crimes. Kasab is the only attacker captured alive by police and is currently in custody. He was captured on CCTV during his attacks at the CST along with another terrorist, Ismail Khan. The Government of Pakistan initially denied that Kasab was from Pakistan, but in January 2009, it officially accepted that he was a Pakistani citizen.