'I am going away for jehad': Ajmal told people of his village

Islamabad, Dec 13 (PTI) Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone gunman
captured for the Mumbai terror attacks, told residents of his
village in Pakistan's Punjab province during his last visit
there that he was going away for jehad.

Iman, also known as Ajmal Kasab, visited Faridkot village
in Okara district of Punjab about five months ago and asked
his mother to bless him before he embarked on jehad, local
residents were quoted as saying in a report aired by Geo News
channel Saturday.

"He came to the village about five or six months ago. He
told his mother he was going away for jehad. He asked her to
bless him and to leave his fate in the hands of Allah," said
an unnamed resident of Faridkot in what the channel described
as secretly filmed footage.

The channel said most people of Faridkot and nearby
Depalpur sub-district were reluctant to talk about Iman on the
record. However, in the secretly filmed footage, some
residents were shown discussing his last visit to the village.

"A man from Faridkot said that on his last visit to the
village, Ajmal gathered a group of boys near a school and
asked them to catch him. He demonstrated feats of wrestling to
them. Then we heard he had left home and joined a jehadi
group," a man said.

A village elder shown in the footage said Iman's father
Amir Kasab had moved to Faridkot from the nearby Haveli Lakha.
Amir Kasab used to sell 'pakoras' from a hand cart that he
pushed around the village, the elder said.

The president of the press club in Depalpur too confirmed
in secretly filmed footage that Iman was from Faridkot. The
channel also quoted residents of Faridkot as saying that
Iman's father had confirmed to several people that the gunman
whose pictures were shown in the media was his son.

Geo News beamed footage of what it said was a large
number of operatives of intelligence agencies who were present
in Faridkot. It also aired footage of intelligence operatives
deployed outside Iman's home.

It said a man named Ghafoor is currently living in Amir
Kasab's home and the current whereabouts of Iman's parents
were unknown.

The TV channel's report came a day after the Dawn
newspaper reported that Amir Kasab had admitted that the
gunman captured in Mumbai was his son.

The Pakistan government has said that it has not been
officially informed by India about the identity and
nationality of Iman. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has
asked India to share information and evidence about the Mumbai
attacks to take forward the investigation into the incident.