The Pakistani handlers of the 26/11 attackers, who were constantly in touch with the terrorists, had to work hard to boost the morale of one of the gunmen holed up in Nariman House.
By the evening of November 27, Imran Babar alias Abu Akasha told his handlers that his partner, Abu Umer alias Nasir, was losing courage and suffering from fatigue after fighting the security forces for nearly two days.
This conversation between the attackers and their handlers in Pakistan, which was intercepted by security agencies during the siege, was played in court on Wednesday.
One of the handlers was trying to chalk out a strategy to combat the National Security Guards (NSG) commandos and asking the two gunmen to use their remaining ammunition to the fullest. But Babar told him in broken English that he was facing a “major problem” as his colleague was “stressed” and “losing morale”.
“He is feeling fatigue,” said Babar to the handler on the phone. The handler instructed him to give Umer his support. “Ab na sahi jab shahadat leni ho, sar ooncha karke leni chahiye [Whenever you die, die with your head held high].”
The handler then told Babar to give Umer the phone so that he could motivate him to fight the armed forces waiting outside. “Ab sher ki tarah garajna hai [You have to fight like a lion],” the rather melodramatic handler said. Umer assured him that he would follow his instructions.
The handler then instructed Babar to let his partner sleep for a while. He also asked Babar whether the duo had finished the work of killing all hostages, to which Babar replied that he was waiting for the order.
The handler then told him that he was free to kill hostages. (Two shots are heard.) When the handler asked if he had killed the hostages, Babar said he had killed one hostage, while Umer had killed the other with a Klashan (AK-47 rifle).
On hearing the gunshots, first additional principal judge ML Tahaliyani said: “The whole staff has experienced this [horror] sitting in the courtroom.”
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