INTERNAL ASSINGMENT

LEGAL PROFESSION AND COMMUNCATION

Internal Assessment

Student’s Name and Student ID: Prateek Kumar Patel ID NO. 20181BBL0092
Course: Legal Profession and Communication
Course Instructor: Mr. Gulab Salien
Assignment No: 2
Title: Section: ajmal kasab case study
Day & Time: 29/04/19

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ABSTRACT

This paper analyses, the terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, popularly known as
26/11 terror attacks, as per a mathematical technique known as Social Network Analysis (SNA).
This analysis of the behaviour of the ten attackers and their telephonic communications with
their handlers in Pakistan even as the attacks were in progress is based on the open source
information. Using the SNA technique, we identify the key members, sub-groups, and the
interaction among the various members of the group. The analysis gives useful insights into the
modus operandi of the terrorists. We have found that a star-type structure of hierarchy prevailed
during the attack which means terrorists were well connected through a central node.

The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a
Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.
The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a
Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.
The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a
Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.
The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a
Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.
The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a

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2018 -19

Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.
The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a
Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.
The Mumbai Terror Attack: A Brief History

The Mumbai terror attack was executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist group based in
Pakistan. The LeT was founded in 1987 with the express aim of helping the Mujahideen in
Afghanistan and liberating Kashmir from India. The attack was planned well in advance and a
Pakistani American David Headley was employed to gather critical information about Mumbai -
which was later confirmed by Headley’s confession in the Chicago case. It has now been
revealed that Headley had played a central role in preparing the operation.

10 militants carried out the Mumbai terror attack. Each member of the team was given rigorous
training. They entered Mumbai clandestinely using a stolen boat, travelling all the way from
Karachi by sea. They were equipped with sophisticated weapons and navigation equipment like
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and satellite phones. After reaching the territorial waters of
Mumbai, they divided themselves into five groups and captured the high profile five stars Taj
Mahal Hotel, on the Gateway of India, the Oberoi Trident Hotel, Café Leopold, Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus and the Nariman (Chabad) house Jewish community centre.
10 militants carried out the Mumbai terror attack. Each member of the team was given rigorous
training. They entered Mumbai clandestinely using a stolen boat, travelling all the way from
Karachi by sea. They were equipped with sophisticated weapons and navigation equipment like
Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and satellite phones. After reaching the territorial waters of
Mumbai, they divided themselves into five groups and captured the high profile five stars Taj
Mahal Hotel, on the Gateway of India, the Oberoi Trident Hotel, Café Leopold, Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus and the Nariman (Chabad) house.

Ismail Khan was the leader of the group. During the period of the attack the terrorists were in
constant touch with their handlers in Pakistan. The Indian intelligence agencies were able to
intercept their conversations on mobile and satellite phones as the attacks were in progress.
While the contents of the intercepts are not known, the government of India has revealed the
details of who was talking to whom. The attackers killed nearly 260 persons including several
foreigners. While the Indian security forces killed 9 out of the 10 attackers, one by the name ofe
Jewish community centre.

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Ismail Khan was the leader of the group. During the period of the attack the terrorists were in
constant touch with their handlers in Pakistan. The Indian intelligence agencies were able to
intercept their conversations on mobile and satellite phones as the attacks were in progress.
While the contents of the intercepts are not known, the government of India has revealed the
details of who was talking to whom. The attackers killed nearly 260 persons including several
foreigners. While the Indian security forces killed 9 out of the 10 attackers, one by the name of
Ajmal Amir Kasab was taken alive and is now awaiting death sentence in a Mumbai jail. His
testimony and that of Pakistani American David Headley in the US have been extremely
valuable
in reconstructing the entire sequence of events and have revealed now just how well planned the
attack was. It turns out that the mastermind of the attack, LeT commander Lakhvi, was in
Pakistan. During the entire operation lasting over 60 hours, the attackers were in touch with their
handlers in Pakistan. Lakhvi and others are being tried in Pakistani courts.
Ajmal Amir Kasab was taken alive and is now awaiting death sentence in a Mumbai jail. His
testimony and that of Pakistani American David Headley in the US have been extremely
valuable in reconstructing the entire sequence of events and have revealed now just how well
planned the attack was. It turns out that the mastermind of the attack, LeT commander Lakhvi,
was in Pakistan. During the entire operation lasting over 60 hours, the attackers were in touch
with their handlers in Pakistan. Lakhvi and others are being tried in Pakistani courts.

INVESTIGATION
After the attack , the investigation conclude that the attackers travelled by sea from Karachi,
Pakistan, across the Arabian Sea, and they had captured the Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber', killed
the crew of four, then forced the captain to sail to Mumbai. After murdering the captain, the
attackers entered Mumbai on a rubber dinghy. The captain of 'Kuber', Amar Singh Solanki, had
earlier been imprisoned for six months in a Pakistani jail for illegally fishing in Pakistani
The ISI officer also helped David Headley to arrange a communications system for the attack,
and oversaw a model of the Taj Hotel so that gunmen could know their way inside the target,
according to Headley's testimony to Indian authorities. Headley also helped ISI recruit Indian
agents to monitor Indian troop levels and movements, according to a US official. At the same
time, Headley was also an informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, and
Headley's wives warned American officials of Headley's involvement with LeT and his plotting
attacks, warning specifically that the Taj Hotel may be their target.
US officials believed that the Inter-Services Intelligence (I.S.I.) officers provided support to
Lashkar-e-Taiba militants who carried out the attacks. Disclosures made by former American
intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) had intercepted communications between the Lashkar boat and the LeT headquarters in

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Azad Kashmir and passed the alert on to RAW on November 18, eight days before the terrorists
actually struck Mumbai.
The arrest of Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Hamza in June 2012 provided further clarity on how
the plot was hatched. According to Abu Hamza, the attacks were previously scheduled for 2006,
using Indian youth for the job. However, a huge cache of AK-47's and RDX, which were to be
used for the attacks, was recovered from Aurangabad in 2006, thus leading to the dismantling of
the original plot. Subsequently, Abu Hamza fled to Pakistan and along with Lashkar
commanders, scouted for Pakistani youth to be used for the attacks. In September 2007, 10
people were selected for the mission. In September 2008, these people tried sailing to Mumbai
from Karachi, but couldn't complete their mission due to choppy waters. These men made a
second attempt in November 2008, and successfully managed to execute the final attacks. David
Headley's disclosures, that three Pakistani army officers were associated with the planning and
execution of the attack were substantiated by Ansari's revelations during his interrogation. After
Ansari's arrest, Pakistan's Foreign Office claimed they had received information that up to 40
Indian nationals were involved in the attacks.
JUDGEMENT
The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, saying that waging war against the country was the primary and
foremost offence committed by the Pakistani terrorist. A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C.K.
Prasad dismissed the plea of 25-year-old Kasab challenging his conviction and death sentence
confirmed by the Bombay High Court. The Bench rejected his contention that he was not given a
free and fair trial in the case. The Bench also observed that the failure of the Government to
provide him an advocate at the pre-trial stage did not vitiate trial court proceedings against him.
It also held that the confessional statement given by Kasab, which he retracted during trial, was
very much voluntary except a very small portion. Kasab along with nine other Pakistani terrorists
had landed in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008 night after travelling from Karachi by sea
and had gone on a shooting spree at various city landmarks, in which 166 people were killed.
Upholds acquittal of two Indians The apex court also upheld the acquittal of two Indians, who
were alleged to be co-conspirators in the Mumbai terror attack case. The trial court and Bombay
High Court had also given clean chit to Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed in the case. The
Bench held that evidence showed that the conspiracy and planning of the 26/11 carnage was
hatched in Pakistan. Reacting to the verdict, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who was
appointed by the apex court as amicus curiae to defend Kasab, said, “I bow down to the apex
court verdict.” The apex court passed the order on the petition filed by Kasab challenging
Bombay High Court’s verdict upholding the trial court’s judgment convicting him and awarding
death sentence in the 26/11 case. The Bench had reserved its verdict on April 25 after a marathon
hearing, spanning over two-and-a-half months of arguments by the prosecution and defence
counsel in the case.

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Kasab, during arguments in the apex court, had contended that he was not given a free and fair
trial and that he was not part of any larger conspiracy for waging war against India. He had told
the Bench that his right against self-incrimination as well as his right to get himself adequately
represented by a counsel to defend himself in the case had been violated during the trial. The
apex court had stayed Kasab’s death sentence on October 10, last year. In the special leave
petition against the Bombay High Court judgment, which confirmed his death sentence, Kasab
had claimed he was brainwashed like a “robot” into committing the crime in the name of “God”
and pleaded that he did not deserve the death penalty keeping in view his young age. Kasab, who
is lodged in Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai, had filed the SLP through the jail authorities. He
was sentenced to death by a special anti-terror court on May 6, 2010. The Bombay High Court
had upheld on February 21 last year the trial court’s order of death sentence to the Pakistani
terrorist for the “brutal and diabolical” attacks aimed at "destabilising” the government here.
Kasab’s death penalty was upheld on charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the
nation and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law — Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act. The high court had confirmed Kasab’s conviction on 19 counts
under the IPC, the Arms Act, the Explosives Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the Foreigners
Act, the Passport Act and the Railway Act.

CONCLUSION

Our country needs a dedicated legislation with a swifter approach concentrated to minimize
terrorism. Punishing offenders should be the prime objective, included with provision to aid the
victim’s family and the public officers who are involved in the prevention and controlling of the
provision. Mercy powers of the President and Governors should be regulated through law to
eliminate delay; clemency should be hardheartedly denied for terrorist acts. Ajmal Kasab was not
pushed to join Let, his confessional statement showed that he volunteered, his mental age
exceeded his physical age. The punishment awarded by the court was completely based on the
atrocity of the crime. The rights of the accused and the victims should be balanced. We should be
confident in the judiciary system for imposing the punishment on Ajmal Kasab. Before
concluding we must mention the brave policemen and the NSG commando who bravely laid
down their lives for the sake of nation and upheld the constitution.