Ajmal is Pakistani, admits Islamabad after media report

Ajmal is Pakistani, admits Islamabad after media report

Nirupama Subramanian

But its National Security Adviser Durrani pays the price

 
Mahmud Ali Durrani

ISLAMABAD: On a day of fast-moving events, Pakistan was forced to take the difficult step of formally acknowledging the Pakistani nationality of Mohammad Ajmal Amir, the lone surviving Mumbai attacker after a media report quoting an unnamed “top” official reported it earlier in the day.

But in the process, the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser Major-General (Retd.) Mahmud Ali Durrani, seen to have been the source of the report on Dawn News television, and in addition quoted by CNN-IBN on its website as confirming to it Ajmal’s nationality, lost his job.

“Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has sacked his Adviser on National Security Mr. Mahmud Ali Durrani for his irresponsible behaviour for not taking Prime Minister and other stakeholders into confidence and lack of coordination on matters of national security,” a statement from the Prime Minister’s office said.

The drama began with Dawn News reporting that a government investigation had established Ajmal was a Pakistani national. The television said it had confirmation of this from a “high-ranking” government source.

“Alas – it has been established that Kasab is a Pakistani national,” the unnamed official is reported to have told the channel. The results of the “preliminary investigation” establishing the nationality had been submitted to the Interior Ministry and a copy sent to the Prime Minister, the channel said.

At first, the Foreign Office response to the report was that investigations were still in progress and it was too early to say if Ajmal’s nationality had been established. The Interior Ministry spokesman also said the same.

But both were contradicted by Information Minister Sherry Rehman who confirmed to Associated Press, through a text message, that Ajmal was indeed a Pakistani. It was late in the evening when the Foreign Office finally confirmed Ajmal’s Pakistani nationality.

“The concerned agencies have informed that Kasab is a Pakistani,” a spokesman told journalists. Quoting sources, Geo television said Ajmal had committed a “heinous crime” and the government had decided it would give him neither legal nor consular access.