The lawyer for the only surviving suspected gunman of the Mumbai attacks believes defending his Pakistani client in an Indian court poses a "nearly impossible" challenge. "It's an uphill task," said Abbas Kazmi, who maintains that his client, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, may have been brainwashed into carrying out the atrocity.
"It's going to be a very, very difficult case from the defence point of view because, as we all know, there is overwhelming evidence and any number of witnesses," Kazmi, 54, told AFP. "It will be nearly impossible for a defence lawyer," he added. Kasab is being tried on charges that he was one of 10 gunmen who stormed India's financial and entertainment capital last November, killing 166 people and injuring more than 300 others.
Amid continued outrage at the attacks, many people here, including some lawyers, believe Kasab should not be given a trial but Kazmi said the rule of law must be upheld. "To save the honour of the nation, to prove to the world that we are a civilised, democratic set-up, we want to give a fair trial, even to a so-called terrorist," he said.