Portions of Kasab’s confessions, recorded before a magistrate on February 17 when he was in police custody, were read out by special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam as the trial began in a courtroom inside Mumbai’s Arthur Road prison today.

SG Abbas Kazmi, Kasab’s lawyer, filed an application seeking to retract the confession, saying it had been extracted from Kasab under “duress”. Kazmi also argued that his client was under 18 years of age, and the court, therefore, had no jurisdiction over his trial. “He is still under 18. In such circumstances he is deemed to be a juvenile and this court has no jurisdiction to try this case,” Kazmi said.

Judge ML Tahilyani allowed the application for retraction, but rejected the contention that Kasab was not an adult. “In my considered opinion, the plea is frivolous and intended to delay the trial,” he said after inspecting Kasab in the dock. Nikam argued that Kasab had, both in his confession statement to police and on transfer to jail, said he was 21. “On the day of the incident, November 26, 2008, he had completed 21 years, two months and some 13 days,” Nikam said.

“The attackers were the product of a terror culture which has penetrated, has firm roots and is well established in Pakistan. The attackers were so well acquainted and well equipped with arms and ammunition that this is not possible without proper training from army officials,” Nikam told the court.

He said a Pakistani army officer, Col R Sadatulla, who is wanted in the case, had accessed an e-mail ID used by the masterminds of the attack to set up a connection with a telecom server through which the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan communicated. These facts clearly indicate the Pakistani establishment’s involvement, Nikam added.

Nikam read Kasab’s confession about an unnamed Pakistani Major General having supervised the training of the 10 attackers.

“Abu Hafiz Saeed said, ‘Now it is time to do jihad. We have to decide how to attack Hindustan.’ After that Zaki-ur-Rehman said, ‘India’s financial stronghold is Mumbai so it is important to attack Mumbai. All you mujahideen have acquired good sea training. We will attack Mumbai using the sea route. At that time Major General sahab came,” Nikam read.

“He hugged Amir Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman and they went further away and he was talking to them. After some time, he came to us and Zaki-ur-Rehman said that Major General sahab would like to see our preparation. Immediately we were given one kalshan (Kalashnikov) each with a full magazine. Major General sahab told Amir Hafiz Saeed to put targets. Amir Hafiz Saeed asked Abu Kahfa to put 10 targets,” the confession said.

Hafiz Saeed is the head of the Jamaat ud-Dawa, the Lashkar’s parent organisation, and Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi is the Lashkar’s operations chief. Abu Kahfa is a top Lashkar operative.

“Major General said, ‘When I say fire once, fire one shot and when I say fire twice do rapid fire.’ Ten of us took positions and he inspected our positions and then said ‘fire’. We immediately fired a single shot. Except for Imran Babar everyone fired on target. Amir Hafiz Saeed scolded Imran and used abusive words. Major General asked Imran to do target practice. Again we were asked to take positions and we did so. Major General said ‘fire twice’ and we emptied the magazines. Major General then checked the targets closely and said, ‘Who fired target 4?’ I said, ‘I did.’ He said you have completely destroyed target 4. I am very happy.’ He told the others, ‘You have to destroy more using less number of bullets.’ He pointed towards me and said, ‘Your firing should be like this mujahideen’s and he left.”

According to Kasab’s statement, Hafiz Saeed told them: “All jihadis have to fight to free Kashmir. The Jamat-ud-Dawa has been fighting for 15 years in Kashmir but the Indian government is not letting go of it. So now, we have to wage a war against the Indian government to get Kashmir.”

Abu Al-Qama, another Lashkar leader wanted in the case, told the 10 attackers that major Indian cities must be targeted to break them from within. “Jo is kaam mein shahid hoga usko jannat naseeb hoga”. (Whoever dies in this endeavour, will go to heaven.)

The attackers were instructed to target foreign nationals, especially Israelis, who they were told had caused maximum damage to Muslims worldwide. They were told not to kill Muslims at the Taj, Oberoi, Nariman House and Colaba. However, at CST, where there would both Hindus and Muslims, they must carry out “brush fire”.

“Hotel jalaa ke bada nuksaan karne ko kaha. Hotel Oberoi ke bahar RDX se blast karne ko kaha, taaki wahaan traffic jam ho jaye aur securitywale aa na sakein.” (We were told to set hotels on fire, and use RDX to set off an explosion outside Oberoi, so that securitymen could not come in.)