In his police statement, Mohammed Amir Ajmal has admitted that the Google Earth software was used at the time of plotting the deadly terror attacks.
In his statement given to the Mumbai police, Mohammed Amir Ajmal, the lone terrorist captured alive after the 26/11 terror attacks, has admitted that the Google Earth software was used at the time of plotting the deadly terror attacks.
The headquarters of the integrated defence staff (IDS) and the Air headquarters, Vayu Bhavan, however, differ on the role that the website can play in aiding terrorists.
Advocate Amit Karkhanis, who has filed a PIL seeking a ban on Google Earth, had made queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act about the action taken against Google Earth.
In its reply to the RTI query, the IDS has stated that the quality, accuracy and vintage of images obtained on Google Earth are not good enough for direct military application. However, the Air headquarters has said that the website had the capability to gather, collate and display high-resolution satellite images.
The IDS has stated that the images of defence establishments on Google Earth are at par with those photographs in periodicals, newspapers, and on the Internet and television. “It should be treated in the same manner,” the IDS said.
The Air headquarters added that a committee had been formed under the department of Information, with representatives from other government organisations and the ministry of defence, to monitor and manage security issues related to the subject.
Both the IDS and the Air headquarters have stated that there is no Indian or international law prohibiting the American company from displaying satellite images of Indian defence establishments.
"While the sovereignty of air space over national boundaries is an international norm, there is no sovereignty in space. Space is available for all for peaceful purposes. Images from space are in the realm of peaceful use. Thus, no international law prohibits imaging from space,” the Air headquarter’s reply, dated November 4, states.
Apart from Ajmal, Faheem Ansari, a Mumbai operative of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT), who was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police in February, had told the cops that while training in Pakistan, he was shown maps and locations on Google Earth by LeT commanders.
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