The love Indians showered on baby Noor did not go waste.
Moved by the same, a terrorist trained by Pakistan's Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami on Thursday confessed his guilt in a Delhi court and expressed the desire to lead a new life -- one away from the path of terror.
| |||||||||||
"I was moved by the gesture shown by Indians towards Noor, who had come to Bangalore for a heart surgery," Mohammed Ashraf alias Mohammed Shakeel told Additional Sessions Judge S N Dhingra.
Ashraf had been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and India Penal Code for conspiring to kill President A P J Abdul Kalam and abducting cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
A resident of Layya village in Pakistan's Punjab province, Ashraf told the court he wanted to reciprocate the gesture shown by the Indians and spread the message of goodwill among his countrymen.
Making his confessional statement, the terrorist, whose designs -- police claimed -- included a plan to trigger blasts at the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, said he had taken to terror in return for money promised by his mentors.
He said that in Pakistan, one Mehboob and Mufti Hifayatullah had promised him money if he joined their ranks.
"I got trapped in their scheme of things and got misguided," Ashraf said, adding, he entered India through the Bangladesh border.
He prayed the court to have mercy on him and adopt a lenient view.
Following the admission, the court convicted him of the charges and set September 29 for hearing the arguments on sentence.
More from rediff