'26/11 terrorists wanted to separate J&K'

The prosecution in the Mumbai terror attacks case on Thursday appealed to the trial court to modify the charge framed by it on the issue of 'waging war against the nation' by arguing that one of the objectives of the conspiracy was to separate Jammu and Kashmir from India.

The appeal comes in the wake of the charges framed excluding the prosecution's point that the Mumbai carnage was part of a Jihadi plan to liberate Kashmir.

The charges were framed by special court Judge M L Tahaliyani on May 6 against Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, who was arrested during the three-day terror siege, and other accused.

"This important aspect of the conspiracy was not reflected in the charge of waging war against the nation," Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said in an application seeking to modify the charges.

Defence lawyers Shahid Azmi and Abbas Kazmi opposed the prosecution's plea, claiming there was prima facie no material to suggest that one of the objectives of the conspiracy, allegedly hatched by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, was to separate J&K from India. Judge M L Tahaliyani will pass an order on Friday on the prosecution's application.

 The prosecution has pleaded that Kasab had said in his confession that the aim of LeT conspiracy was to attack Mumbai in order to destabilise India with an intention to separate J&K from the country.