The Jamat-ud-Da’wah (JuD), according to local media reports, offered funeral prayers in absentia for Ajmal Kasab — the lone terrorist nabbed alive in the Mumbai terror attacks — at its two-day Muridke convention which concluded on Friday. A resolution was also passed against Indian prisoner on death row Sarabjeet Singh.
However, on being asked on Twitter whether a namaz-e-janaza (funeral prayers in absentia) had been offered for Kasab, JuD — which India holds responsible for carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks — responded: “We have detailed recordings of the whole programme. These are mere media speculations. Nothing else.” Further, JuD said, funeral prayers in absentia were offered for “innocent martyrs of Burma, Gaza and occupied Muslim lands at the end of the Muridke convention.”
Meanwhile, NGOs working in Okara district — where Kasab’s native village Farid Kot is located — said funeral prayers in absentia were offered for him on Wednesday itself soon after he was hanged to death in Pune. Locals claimed that a namaz-e-janaza was offered for him after the funeral of a villager.
Though Kasab’s execution drew a muted response in Pakistan — particularly in the media which moved away from the story within an hour itself except for the routine mentions in their hourly bulletins through the day — questions are being asked in the legal fraternity about its impact on the Mumbai terror attack case pending in a Pakistani court against seven accused including Laskar-e-Taiba operational commander Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.
Lawyers of the defendants claim that his execution would complicate matters as the entire case in Pakistan is based on Kasab’s testimonial which has already been declared inadmissible by the court. “As long as Kasab was alive, there was a possibility for the Federal Investigation Agency to get a fresh confessional statement registered in Pakistan or to allow defence lawyers to cross-examine him to determine the authenticity of his statement,” one of the defence lawyers was quoted as telling The Express Tribune .
