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I couldn't believe this was my son |
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By: Agencies |
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Date:
2008-12-13 |
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Place: Karachi |
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Father of Md Ajmal Qasab says extreme poverty drove his son away from home
 A Pakistani man has recognised the lone arrested attacker in last month's Mumbai carnage, Mohammad Ajmal Qasab, as his son.
"This is the truth. I have seen the picture in the newspaper. This is my son Ajmal," the man who identified himself as Amir Qasab told the Dawn newspaper.
"I was in denial for the first couple of days, saying to myself it could not have been my son," he said as he sat together with his wife and two daughters in the courtyard of his house in Faridkot.
"Now I have accepted it," added Amir Qasab, who gave his age as over 50.
Ajmal has told the police that he left his home as a frustrated teenager about four years ago and went to Lahore, where he ran into a religious group. He was later trained in fighting.
'Extreme poverty'
But his father said extreme poverty turned his son into a terrorist. "He had asked me for new clothes on Eid that I couldn't provide him. He got angry and left," he recalled.
Amir makes his earning by selling pakoras in the streets of his village. "This is all I have," he said, pointing at a pushcart.
Asked why he did not look for his son all these years, he said, "What could I do with the few resources that I had."
Amir termed those who persuaded his son to become a terrorist his enemies, but he did not know who these enemies are.
However, he denied Ajmal's confession that his handlers had promised him Rs 1.5 lakh Pakistani rupees (Rs 93,000) after the Mumbai mission was completed. "I don't sell my sons," he said angrily.
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