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Poverty had driven 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab away from his Faridkot residence in Pakistan. The Mumbai attacker, who was hanged to death on November 21, 2012 in Pune’s Yerwada jail, was sold by his poor parents to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba for Rs.1.5 lakh.

The shocking revelation has come from well-known Pakistani writer-journalist Jugnu Mohsin. The Lashkar, she said, had shelled out a huge sum to handpick the Mumbai attackers. As many as 166 people were killed in the attack on November 26, 2008.

Mohsin was addressing a gathering of noted writers, filmmakers and artistes during the three-day Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in Kasauli on Friday.

"Kasab’s village Faridkot is around 10 miles from my hometown. When Mumbai was attacked on November 26, 2008, I was in New Delhi. We sent a person to the village (Faridkot) to know the truth. He returned and told us that Kasab’s mother Nooree Lai had cried and repented that she had made a mistake by selling him to Lashkar," Mohsin said.

Mohsin’s statement reinforces the Kasab’s confession that his father Amir Shahban Kasab had sold him to the terror outfit for money. Kasab had reportedly made this revelation to the 26/11 investigators during a narco-analysis test.

Kasab had also reportedly told the investigators that he had joined the terror organisation for the welfare of his family. His father Amir Shahban, mother Nooree Lai, younger sister Suraiyya and younger brother Munir had fled Faridkot village soon after the Mumbai carnage in 2008 and never returned.

Mohsin, who had received several death threats from Taliban, also said the Islamic militant group was fuelling terrorism in Pakistan by luring gullible, unemployed youth hailing from economically weaker sections of the society.

"Taliban is fuelling terrorism in Pakistan. The orthodox youth with a bleak future fall prey to the outfit," she told the gathering.