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The Attacks of 26/11 (2013)
as the joint commissioner
of Mumbai police, I am present today before this committee, to answer certain allegations against me, for the decisions I have taken, on that night. I'm aware of that, keeping in view the incidents of 26/11, and the situations that arose due to it, as per the constitution of democratic India and its law, and the laws of the state of Maharashtra vested in it, and by the administrative powers of the police, under which I am bound, with that authority, I state that every word of my testimony, its details, meanings, sum ups, views, and with regard to all evidence connected to the 26/11 incident, I will only speak the truth. 'On the 26th, fisherman Solanki.. Along with his four workers, in search of "Lal Pari', a rare fish which is found only in deep waters had wandered really far. Balu. I'm planning to get my son married next year. Let me know if you've someone in mind. Uncle. Hitesh must be as old as me? No, no, he is younger, Dilip's just 20, and Hitesh is a year younger. I thought you already had someone in mind for Dilip. I had made plans but it didn't work out. His mother wanted him to concentrate on his studies, and there's no way I could argue with her. Amar, I think we've crossed Kori Bunder, we could be in Pakistani waters as well. No, I don'! think so. There's no sight of 'Lal pari' Let's wait and see for a while then we'll turn around. I say let's go back. I don'! want to end up in a Pakistani jail Is that a patrol boat? Looks like a trawler. Ramesh. I think they are in trouble. Hello! Hello! What's wrong? The engine's belt is broken. Help us. Where are you from? Karachi. This is our transport trawler, we drifted this far due to bad weather. Help us. How many of you? Five. Anyone else? No. What's going on? What's going on? Who are you? Move back. What's going on? Don't beat us - Shut up! Sir, we're just fishermen. - Yes. Put them on the side. Hey, come on. Don'! beat us. Fast. Fast. - Sir, We're just fishermen. Come on. Come on. Move. We're just fishermen. Sir... Sit - You can check our lD's. Call them. Come. Take these four away. Come. Amar. Let them go. Come. Come. Come. - Let us go. Shut up or I'll shoot. Look, you've to take them to Mumbai. Then, we'll let everyone go. Sir. Let my men go, let them stay with me. Just do...as I say. Take them to Mumbai, and then we'll let everyone go. Let my pe0Pl99- Let them stay with me. Ramesh. Balu. Greetings, brother. Greetings. The ice is melting. What about the goods? It's all set We're on course and I'll allot them now. Maintain 1 nautical miles. - Yes. You can run into friends on the way Careful - Yes Goodbye, brother. Goodbye. Shut the engine. We're around 11 kilometers from 'Bandarkar Machimaar Colony'. Lower the rubber. The ice has melted. We've taken our offerings. It's your turn. Set him free. No, son. See, we've reached Mumbai. Your orders have been carried out.. have mercy, son. Leave me I have children. They're just as old as you. They look just like you. The moment has arrived, if everything goes well, by grace of Allah, we'll reach our destinations by 9:30. Will you take us to CST. Of course, get in. Meter Down. Let's go. Turn off the music. It's a nice song. Turn it off. Passengers are our God, we've to do as they say. Where are you going, sir? Hyderabad. - Hyderabad. People come to Mumbai for all kinds of work. Right. But, it's become too congested. Filled with tension. See how they're driving. But, Mumbai is life, everyone comes here with big dreams. Some make it and some don't. That's the way it is, sir. By the way, my name's Mohammad. 'The terrorists were told, 'that Leopold Caf is I ' I one of Mumbai s famous cafe, 'where locals as well as tourists,' 'spend a nice evening together.' 'And so, the terrorists made that a target.' 'That night, at 9:30 pm.' My work doesn't allow me.. ...to come home any day before late night. But on 26/11, I had no work in the office, I was getting bored, so I went home early at 9 pm. At around 9.30, as I was taking a shower. The phone started ringing in the living room. What? There was a call from the control-room. When I said you were in the shower.. The operator banged the phone down Because, I am the Joint Commissioner, it's the control-room operator's responsibility, to inform me about every incident in the city. He couldn't have asked me to come out of the bathroom, on a single information about a firing report in Leopold Caf. He wanted 10.. ...reconfirm the incident first. And in that haste he banged the phone down.. ...which my wife thought was strange, and thinking that I might take time, knocked on my bathroom door. As I came in to the living room, all the three phones, my mobile, my landline and control-room hotline, started ringing together. That's when I knew, something was going on. 'They were so audacious, that 'the two terrorists who had attacked Leopold,' 'dashed through the lanes' 'and met their other comrades at the Ta]. 'So that they could make Taj their target as well.' 'Everyone knows.' The Ta] hotel of Mumbai, has been 'the centre of attraction for the entire country, ' 'and not just Mumbai alone.' 'Every visitor who travels to Mumbai,' 'never misses seeing the Taj Hotel and the Gateway.' 'By targeting that hotel, the terrorists wanted to prove,' 'that there's no escape from them,' 'no matter where you hide.' 'Whether it's the Leopold, or the Taj.' They shot the child through his head. In today's world a 5 star hotel, symbolises how much humans have progressed from barbaric times. And to see blood splattered in its luxurious settings, and heaps of dead bodies on its polished floor proves, that humans can even today be more barbaric than they were ever. At around 9:30, when Taj was being attacked, 'at the same time at, Mumbai's lifeline, the Mumbai Railway's CST station..' 'where, people from all over the country commute.' 'By attacking this place, they wanted to spread terror,' 'in every corner of the country, and not just Mumbai.' Yes. No, sir. I'll send it day after tomorrow. Yes, sir. Correct. Yes, sir. Okay, sir. Goodnight. Sir, where's the platform? - That way. On that side. - Oh, this way? Yes. That way. - And, the ticket-counter? This way. - This way? Where's the chart been put up, sir? That side. - That way? Yes. - Thank you. Listen carefully once again. First throw a grenade so that with that sound, those sitting and lying down in the hall will gel up And, that way we can shoot more people. And remember, don'! take pity on even women...and children...understood ? Sir, Shinde speaking from CST. Someone's opened fire here with an AK-41. Sir.. I couldn't believe my ears, when I heard what happened at CST. What are these people? What kind of hatred is this? Can you understand? I can't. What kind of barbarism is this? Are they just plain insane... who've been given a gun? What faith allows you, to kill, innocent children, so brutally and so cruelly? Then, I received news about the.. Attacks on Oberoi and Nariman House ...and also about the blast in a taxi at Vile Parle. "Moments are passing by slowly. My eyes are teary." Not only about those various attacks, I was listening to multiple versions of each of those attacks. And also rumours of attacks in various other places. The control room was receiving thousands of calls, I had no time to understand, verify or act upon the information. At a point my mind went numb. "Human being is tormented in the games of politics." Every path ls foggy.. My juniors were waiting for my orders, and I didn't know what to say. That's when I called the Home Secretary. Sir, I don'! know what to do, we need outside help. Are you sure? It's the prestige of Mumbai Police! Sir, fuck the prestige, I am not saying whether we can do or we cannot do, I am saying I don'! know what to do. In my 21 years of service, me or any other police officer In Mumbai.. We always arrived at the scene of crime, after the crime had already happened. For the first time in my experience we were facing a situation, where a crime was still happening and was getting bigger by the minute. And to confront such a situation ...we had neither the training, nor the weapons. And on top of that we were facing someone who was not afraid of the police. Because they came here to just kill and die. The Home Secretary started the proceedings, to bring The NSG Commandoes from Delhi. And then I received news that the terrorists that left from CST, were spotted in a lane behind Cama Hospital. Can I have some water? One more? Yes, I heard too. I believe they attacked CST Station. Some people are saying that there was firing at the Taj hotel too. Why a hospital? From the places where we fired, the wounded will be taken to hospitals, If we spread terror here too, not just railway stations and hotels, people will be scared to go to hospitals loo. Geeta. Turn off the lights. Turn off all the lights, quickly. Don'! fire for no reason. Don'! waste bullets? Sir, we're here. Lock it. Lock it, quickly. Hide inside. Now. Go now. - Okay, doctor. What are you doing here? Go inside. Come on. Quickly. Why...why did you kill him? - Shut up! Where are the others? I don't know. I just arrived on shift.. Tell me, you're a doctor, aren't you? You should know. Tell me, or I will kill you. I don'! know. Believe me.. What happened? The police are at the back gate. Where's the main gate? Where's the main gate. I will show you. Throw down your weapons! And surrender yourself I You've been surrounded. Throw down your weapons ...and surrender yourself I Sir. - What's the position here? Gun-shots on the upper level. We don't have a clue about their position. Do we know how many of them are up there? - No, sir. Sir, we need to move inside. Move. Move! Move. Hold, Ashok. There could be many patients and medical staff trapped inside, we can'! take a risk of charging in We need to check their next move. The doctor's with us, If you try to stop us we'll kill him. We're coming down. Look. You still have a chance. Throw down your weapons, you cannot escape from here alive. If u stop us, the doctor will die. This is your last chance, throw down your weapons. Pass me a grenade. With the sound coming from inside, and suspecting that the terrorists might escape from the front entrance, since the back entrance was already secured. Three of my best officers, who also happened to be my friends, headed towards the hospital's front entrance. Jadhav sit at the back, I will drive. - Sir. Patil, open the door. Come on, sit. - Salaskar, let's go. Control room to.. Sir, we've just spotted two people leaving Cama Hospital. Sir, If they're out, they could be coming out from any direction. The call on radio operator's phone ...was from his father, in Ahmed Nagar, who saw the news on television, and called to know about his sons safety. How could he have imagined that his call.. ...would be the reason for his son's death? And, due to the bullets that had hit the wheel, during the shootout, the car stopped. Hello, Control Room. Get out! Come on. Saumil. They've now hijacked a silver Skoda car, and are heading towards Chowpatty. Silver Skoda, number 1216, Stop it at any cost. - Yes. Get that. Okay, sir. Right away. Come on. Get the barricades over there. Come on. - Clear the public. Come on. Go home. Move your car now. On the left. Let the car's go from that side. Come on, move now. Go. Go. Get your car out. Come on. Don'! stand here. Leave. Go. Come on. Stop him. Stop. Stop. Yes, sir. We've setup barricades. Sir, that looks like the Skoda. Set up barricades. Hurry up. Put it up quickly. Be ready. Get down. - Come on, move it fast. Come out. - Hurry up. This is my last warning, come out. Come on, move. Move. Switch off those lights. - Get down. Move it. Sir, one's dead, and we have caught one alive. We're taking him to the hospital now. Send him with armed escort. Mind well, armed escort. His team members could be following him. Get to Nariman House, the situation there is tense. Get me Delhi. Sir. Delhi. Sir, we got one. Yes. The order from Delhi was, to keep him secure at any cost. And the order was right, because he was the only source, from whom we could extract any information. Then I called my officer. Yes, sir. - How is he? He's being treated, he Seems fine. Bring him to Crime Branch. The doctor's not allowing. Just get him, and If the doctor comes in between shoot him. Right at that lime...his team members were killing our people, and our doctors wanted to treat him. I know it's professional ethics, a doctor is not supposed to make judgment calls on his patients background, but then, I didn't have time for such great ideals at that time, because I needed immediate information from Kasab.. Through which we could try to save people in Taj, Oberoi, and Nariman House. And finally he was brought to me. "Moments are passing by slowly. My eyes are teary." The first time I saw Kasab, I was taken aback. I was shocked. Inspite of all my years of experience, which taught me that, a dangerous criminal doesn't necessarily look dangerous. I was still surprised. Kasab, was a tiny, small guy, It was hard to believe, that this 20 something had spread such terror in my city. At that time my most difficult job was to, protect him from myself and my officers. We all wanted to kill him. I controlled myself. And went about trying to extract information from him. Name? What's your name? Ajmal. No father? - Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab. From where? - Karachi. How? We hijacked an Indian boat in the sea. And forced the boat man to bring us here. Name of the boat. Kuben And the crew. Killed them. Don't lie to me as I will check with your other team members... we arrested them too. I Told him that his other members were in my custody. I lied to him. After interrogating him all night.. ...he provided me with a lot of information, strangely very quickly and very elaborately. At around 1 o'clock in the morning.. ...an officer came in my room. Sir. The NSG Commandoes from Delhi have arrived. They've assault rifles, RDx and grenades. Even as I was briefing the NSG, I had a suspicion that Kasab could be lying to me. Or It's possible that he doesn't know the entire truth himself? For all I know, they could have rigged the Taj and Oberoi hotels with RDX, and were just waiting for the NSG and other forces to come in. So that they can kill everyone together. But in that hostage situation, one had no choice but to to take that risk. People were still in danger in Taj Hotel and Nariman House. As NSG went about their mission, I Continued interrogating Kasab. You can'! have the mindset ...to understand Aaka. His words spell magic. Magic. It gratifies the soul. You can'! even look into his face. His grace overwhelms you, you wish.. ...to keep looking at him, Just keep looking. Anyone who hears him speak. Even you. Even you. You will be willing to give up your life, without asking a question. No one can question him. He explains you each and every word In the Holy Book, that's hard for you to understand. Because you're a non-believer, Non-believer. I picked up the Gun for my religion. Our religion is in danger, If you want to escape hell then you've to do Holy war Aaka said, otherwise the fire of hell will burn you forever. Whether my sins will be pardoned, or not I don'! know that. But Aaka said, one who will sacrifice his life for protecting religion and faith ...will attain the highest stature. Pebble. Aaka says, Anyone who risks his life for Allah, his sins, no matter what, are pardoned. And you aren't questioned. But you won'! know that. Allah! 'Rasool'! 'Jihad Do you know? Do you know? Holy war! It's the only thing that will, keep the grace and purity of our souls intact. Aaka said, after martyrdom, angels will carry us to heaven. Heaven. On judgment day we'll be carried with pride, and in heaven we'll be surrounded by gorgeous beauties. There will be an abundance of milk and honey, and we'll be bathed in them. And.. ...and all this is waiting for those who lay their life for religion. For religion. You don'! have any knowledge of religion. By God.. The day Aaka chose us for this task ...we were so halJPY After this good deed, we'll go straight to heaven, swaying with IOY Before seeing us off, Aaka said.. "Go children." "Gm.- "Keep killing till your last breath." "Spread terror." "Kill those enemies of our faith." After martyrdom ...Your bodies will smell of perfume. And then Our master hugged us. Blessed us.. ...and said.. Allah be with you. Allah will bless us with success in our task. If we win, we will be warriors, and if we die, we will be martyrs. Allah will protect our families! I have to tell you that I had a lot of joy killing your people, I swear r fr' It pleased my soul. What can you do now? You. And your government. What? Tell me. Tell me. I realized that he is a dog. Just a dog. If a handler orders his dog to bite.. ...It's foolish to get angry with the dog. The real killers are the ones.. ...who executed this plan from across the sea. That doesn't mean I am saying that Kasab is not wrong.. ...If I wasn't bound by the law. I would've wanted to tear him apart myself with my bare hands. The NSG operation ended successfully, and everything got under control. And then one day Kasab made a request. As long as I am going to be either killed, or just left to rot, why don'! u let me stay with my other mates? What's your problem if you.. ...let me stay with my mates? You want to stay with your mates? Come. You wanted to stay with your mates didn't you? Let alone heaven, even if they knocked on the door of hell, the devil would have kicked on their asses and sent them back here. Allah! Their souls must be wandering somewhere around here only, I can'! see them, maybe you can, they were your people after all. Who is he? What's his name? Abdul. Abdul. Ask them all, What holy war is? Maybe now they know. Holy war has been mentioned 41 times in the Quran Yet you guys didn't understand its context. What do you think? Only you and your Aaka have read the Quran. We're illiterates? We don'! have any stature? What's the fking stature of your Aaka? I'm sure your Aaka didn't tell you.. Chat you're... ASHRAFUL MAKHLOOK... Means human beings. The most unique 'CREATION of God. After creating human beings ...God ordered the angels to prostrate before them Do you know? Your Aaka didn't tell you.. ...God made self-realization as a means to escape from the fire of hell? If you just had realized your sins ...even then you would've been entitled for heaven. Your Aaka didn't tell you about these words from the Koran. Why would he? Then Under the pretext of holy war he couldn't have sent you here.. ...to massacre innocent people. Islam is in danger? Religion is in trouble? He said that and you believed it and just came here and massacred people Mother fwwr tell me what threat was there to your religion, from innocent women and children? Islam's based on humanity, but you don'! know that. Because you're an ignorant fool, after this kind of holy war, you think your souls.. ...will stay glorious and pious. Switch on the exhaust. Look at their faces, smell the sweet scent of martyrdom.. ...coming from their body. Why the fuck are you, covering your nose. Smell I Smell I Smell I Smell I Smell I Smell I Angels will come down? Will bathe you in honey. Your Aaka even refused to acknowledge them You bastard Nobody wants to give even 6 feet land to bury them. Each and everyone without exception hates them, and You call this sacrifice and martyrdom.? You call this sacrifice and martyrdom. You want to see martyrdom? Listen to what people did when you and your guys were busy killing, they didn't care about anyone's religion or faith, they just sacrificed their own lives trying to save others, they attained martyrdom.. ...for protecting humanity created by God. Everyone's mourning for them. Everyone's shedding tears. They attained heaven here itself on earth. That's what true martyrdom is. You were swaying with joy, didn't you.. When your Aaka chose you for this task? I want to know, did you even bother to ask any person you killed.. What was their sin? Did you even ask your conscience? Conscience, Conscience! Do you even know what conscience is? If you survive, you're a warrior and if you die you are a martyr Bastard Your Aaka lured you with martyrdom using it like a carrot He didn't tell you, on Judgement Day only such cruel sinners as you are punished first. This is not said by me, It was Hazrat Mohammad Mustafa who said this Do you even know his words? Ignorants like you have made holy war a joke. A joke. If you want to do holy war, then first do it with yourself, with the evil that has developed in your heart and mind. That's the real holy war, 'Jihad-Ul-Akbar.' If you had read the Quran properly even once, or even just read it, you would have understood, you can't ever understood what lslams nobility' is about. That's because first of all you are not a Muslim, Islam's a very great faith, ignorant fools like you can never understand. I have a son of your age. "Some call you lshwar (Lord Vishnu) and some call you as Allah." "But we beg you Lord that do bless us all." "Some call you lshwar (Lord Vishnu) and some call you as Allah." "But we beg you Lord that do bless us all." "Lord Ram, the Lord of heavens. Blessed is thy name." "Victory to you Lord Ram the husband of Sita." "Lord Ram, the Lord of heavens. Blessed is thy name." "Victory to you Lord Ram the husband of Sita." "Some call you lshwar (Lord Vishnu) and some call you as Allah." "But we beg you Lord that do bless us all." |
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