I take it as my destiny: Kazmi

Sacked lawyer, Syed Gholam Abbas Kazmi, on Tuesday said he did not want to drag the matter of his removal from the 26/11 attacks case, although he felt humiliated in the special court.

Sacked lawyer, Syed Gholam Abbas Kazmi, on Tuesday said he did not want to drag the matter of his removal from the 26/11 attacks case, although he felt humiliated in the special court.

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“I don’t want to drag the matter any further, I would take it as my destiny,” said Kazmi while speaking to journalists for the first time after his appointment to defend sole surviving 26/11 attacker Ajmal Kasab was revoked by the special court on Monday.

The 55-year-old Bandra resident maintained that he did not lie before the special court.

“By no stretch of imagination, my denial of knowledge about (Special Public Prosecutor) Ujjwal Nikam’s oral statement could be termed a lie,” he added referring to the November 26 episode, when special judge M.L. Taheliyani termed him a liar.

Asserting that he had “great respect for the special court,” Kazmi said, “I genuinely felt a trial should be concluded as early as possible.”

He, however, made it clear that he had to go through humiliation in the special court. “I was termed a terrorist lawyer, then I was placed with the perpetrators of the attack, the Special PP (Ujjwal Nikam) said Pakistan was going honour me with
their highest civilian award and finally I was termed a liar.”

Kazmi also suggested that “the liar episode” was an outcome of the prosecution’s frustration over being unable to close the case on the first anniversary of the attacks.

“They should have considered the number of witnesses — 272 and the 340 added now through affidavits — before promising that the case will be closed on the first anniversary,” he added.

Defending his stand — to not admit evidence of 340 witnesses tendered by the prosecution through their affidavits, Kazmi said, “I could not have compromised in defending the accused.”