Ajmal is my son, says Mumbai attacker`s father

Islamabad, Dec 12 (PTI) Though LeT and JuD may disown
him, the father of the lone Pakistani gunman arrested for the
Mumbai terror attacks has admitted that the young man whose
picture was beamed by media across the world, is his son.

Amir Kasab, the father of Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal
Qasab, broke down as he made the admission to the influential
Dawn newspaper in the courtyard of his house in Faridkot, a
village of about 2,500 people in Okara district of Punjab
province.

"I was in denial for the first couple of days, saying to
myself it could not have been my son... Now I have accepted
it. This is the truth. I have seen the picture in the
newspaper. This is my son Ajmal," Amir said in his first
interview to the media since his son's arrest.

Britain's Observer newspaper and BBC had earlier reported
that Iman belonged to Faridkot and had joined the
Lashker-e-Taiba some time ago.

The Observer's correspondent had located Iman's home and
got hold of the voters' roll which had the names of his
parents – Amir Kasab and Noor – as well as the numbers on
their national identity cards.

Reports had said that Iman left home as a frustrated
teenager about four years ago and went to Lahore in search of
a job. After a brush with crime in that city, he reportedly
joined the LeT.

Amir Kasab, a father of three sons and two daughters,
said his son disappeared from home four years ago. "He had
asked me for new clothes on Eid that I couldn't provide him.
He got angry and left," he said.

As Amir was talking to the Dawn's correspondents, Iman's
two sisters and a younger brother stood by. Their mother,
wrapped in a 'chador', lay on a nearby charpoy.

"Her trance was broken as the small picture of Ajmal
lying in a Mumbai hospital was shown around. They appeared to
have identified their son. The mother shrunk back in her
chador but the father said he had no problem in talking about
the subject," the newspaper reported.

Amir said he had settled in Faridkot after arriving from
the nearby Haveli Lakha many years ago. He owned the house the
family lived in and made a living by selling 'pakoras' in the
streets of the village.

He pointed to a hand-cart in one corner of the courtyard
and said, "This is all I have. I shifted back to the village
after doing the same job in Lahore.

"My eldest son, Afzal, is also back after a stint in
Lahore. He is out working in the fields."

Faridkot is located off a busy road and bears all the
characteristics of a lower-middle class locality in a big
city, the newspaper reported.

Amir said he had little say in Iman's life since the day
his son walked out on him. He calls the "people who snatched
Ajmal from him his enemies but has no clue who these enemies
are".

Asked why he did not look for his son all this while, he
said: "What could I do with the few resources that I had?"

Though mild-mannered, Amir became agitated at the
"mention of the link between his son's actions and money".

Media reports had said that Iman's handlers had promised
him that his family would be compensated with Rs 150,000 after
the completion of the Mumbai mission. "I don't sell my sons,"
Amir said. PTI