Though Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) may disown him, the father of the lone Pakistani gunman arrested for the Mumbai terror attacks has admitted that the young man whose picture was beamed by media across the world, is his son.
Amir Kasab, the father of Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Qasab, broke down as he made the admission to the influential Dawn newspaper in the courtyard of his house in Faridkot, a village of about 2,500 people in Okara district of Punjab province.
"I was in denial for the first couple of days, saying to myself it could not have been my son... Now I have accepted it. This is the truth. I have seen the picture in the newspaper. This is my son Ajmal," Amir said in his first interview to the media since his son's arrest.
Britain's Observer newspaper and BBC had earlier reported that Iman belonged to Faridkot and had joined the LeT some time ago.
The Observer's correspondent had located Iman's home and got hold of the voters' roll which had the names of his parents Amir Kasab and Noor as well as the numbers on their national identity cards.
Reports had said that Iman left home as a frustrated teenager about four years ago and went to Lahore in search of a job. After a brush with crime in that city, he reportedly joined the LeT.
Amir Kasab, a father of three sons and two daughters, said his son disappeared from home four years ago. "He had asked me for new clothes on Eid that I couldn't provide him. He got angry and left," he said.
