Posted on 01/07/2009 7:51:01 AM PST by MyTwoCopperCoins
Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks on November 26 last year, is a Pakistani national, a Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said on Wednesday.
However, Pakistan Information Minister Sherry Rehman stated that Kasab was not linked to any official agency.
Earlier in the day, Dawn News had reported on Kasab's Pakistani origins citing 'a preliminary investigation' conducted by authorities in Islamabad.
An unnamed 'very senior government official' told Dawn News channel that a preliminary investigation carried out by Pakistani law enforcement agencies had established that Kasab was a Pakistani national.
The government is yet to take a decision on providing consular access to Kasab, the channel quoted official sources as saying.
The news channel quoted sources as saying that the preliminary investigation had established that Kasab was a resident of Faridkot village of Okara district in Punjab province and the son of Amir Kasab and Noor Elahi.
Kasab's parents said he had left home about four years ago and there had been few contacts between him and the family since then. They also said they had recognised him when his photographs were flashed by the media after the terrorist strike.
Copies of the report of the preliminary investigation had been submitted to the Interior Ministry and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the sources told the channel. A formal announcement about the findings of the investigation is expected to be made in the next few days.
The preliminary investigation had also established that the Mumbai attackers were operating on their own and had no links with any section of Pakistan's security apparatus, the sources claimed.
Earlier in the day, Gilani also said that Pakistan's own investigation into the Mumbai attack had 'progressed'.
The identity of the nine other terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks is yet to be established, Dawn News quoted the sources as saying.
The law enforcement agencies are now working to ascertain how Kasab reached Mumbai to carry out the attacks, the sources were quoted as saying.
Kasab's father had confirmed to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper soon after the Mumbai attacks that the gunman whose photos were beamed around the world by the media was his son. Other residents of Faridkot had told Geo News channel that Kasab had last visited home about six months before the attacks occurred and told his mother that he was going away for jihad.
Pakistani authorities have received a letter from Kasab, in which he has asked for consular access and legal aid.
It took the Pakistani government this long to note:
a) he’s a citizen
b) he’s not on the government payroll
Well bravo Pakistan.
List?
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