Mumbai gunman’s chilling confession shocks India, but what is Kasab up to?

Diabolical disregard - Ajmal Kasab at scene of Mumbai railway station massacre

By Ravi Matah

Ajmal Kasab became notorious when his photo was splashed around the world, stylishly carrying an AK-47 in one hand – even as a bloodbath lay at his feet in a Mumbai railway station.

On Monday, just as the prosecution’s 135th witness stepped into the box to give evidence, the lone surviving terrorist of the  November 26, 2008 carnage at Mumbai, created another shock. He admitted to his role in the massacre of Mumbai. Is he a tired terrorist, or is he thumbing his nose again at society – or just being cold-blooded once again, in a kind of hang-me-if-you-want way?

The judge agreed that the guilty plea of his involvement in the basic offence be placed on record,  but ordered the trial to continue anyway, because he has not conceded to all the charges against him.

What was Kasab thinking?  What is going on in his mind, what prompted him to not even consult his lawyer and admit his guilt at least partially? Is it a calculated plan by a trained terrorist or is it just the frustration of a 22-year-old tired of solitary confinement?

How did this kid ever become such a dangerous terrorist? He shocked the world while spraying bullets at Mumbai railway station on 26/11 and stunned us with admitting his crime on Monday.

“If anyone feels that I am confessing to escape death penalty then the court may without doubt hang me.” Kasab pleaded before the court on Wednesday.

Is this an emotional meltdown? Or is it a pure strategy by the 22-year-old terrorist to churn out some sympathy for himself? Or is he getting nightmares of his own actions because every time he shuts his eyes he sees the horrified faces of men and women whom he had so ruthlessly killed? How can a man be motivated to kill hundreds of people aimlessly and without reason?

He has now, rather belatedly, learnt that he has to entangle his handlers in Pakistan. So he would also like to rope them in. He has nothing to loose now. Perhaps the wisdom has come, though, too late. No sane person on earth would do such an act of uncontrolled violence.

It is an extremely sad state of affairs that a young lad should encounter such a situation so early in his life. The case is sub-judice and the lesser said the better it would be.

Most of the people, particularly Mumbaikars, would want to see him hanged because, that night, innocent lives were lost because of him.

Kasab might be resigned but, perhaps not repentant.  Either way, it requires a close examination of Kasab to understand what compelled him to become a hardline jihadi in the first place and what is it that has now brought about a desire in him to cut this trial short.

Considering his age, his first encounter, his statements, I feel there’s some emotional upheaval happening in his mind. Kasab has been in solitary confinement for four months, humiliated by eyewitnesses in court and has also learnt that Pakistan, who had earlier disowned him, has pronounced him an accused.  Kasab is also scared of constantly lying to the court about his involvement, knowing fully well that any wrong statement by him, in future, will reveal the truth.

He must also be now fed up living inside a mouse trap, knowing fully well that till the day of his end, he has to live his life like that  and there is no other way to reduce the unbearable torture, than, to own up the responsibility and be done with the prolonged humiliation of a trial. Yet, even this raises a bigger question – why confess at all – and partially?

Is it to save his friends in Pakistan the pain or more exposure as evidence is laid out publicly? Or is it a sense of nationalism that he wants to spare his country humiliating details that will surely be coming forth?

In some ways we feel sad for him. We know how terrorists masters recruit the weakest, the poorest or the most vulnerable.   In  an interview with The Nation,  in Phuket,  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton  said , “The confession of lone surviving 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab shows that he was “a young man without much purpose in life”, pitching for good education and jobs to wean away the youth from “blandishment” of terrorist groups.

That, to me, may be the core of it. if it is, it is surely scary, because there are so many in this world who are looking for a purpose in life. All we can hope for is that they don’t go around slinging machine guns and firing at innocent people.

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Posted by Ravi Matah on Jul 24 2009. Filed under More News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry