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WE will find you a wife from Kashmir.
That was apparently what smiling assassin Azam Amir Kasab was promised by the people who sent him on this mission of death, reported Mumbai newspaper Mid-day.
He was also promised a place in heaven.
Slowly, a clearer picture is emerging of the young man who smiled as he slew innocent people in Mumbai on 26 Nov.
The four-day terrorist attack carried out by about 10 men saw 188 dead (including a Singaporean) and 355 injured.
All the killers are dead except Azam.
What has emerged is a contrast - on the one hand he has been described as having a 'cold hard look' but at other times, he is said to be 'worried about my family'.
Azam, 22, apparently talked to doctors, ward boys and police at Nair Hospital, where he was admitted for gunshot injuries.
A source who wanted to remain anonymous told Mid-day: 'When I asked Azam what motivated him to participate in the terror attacks, he said the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba's promises (of a wife, money and a place in heaven) had lured him into being a part of the 10-member fidayeen team.
Payoff
'And of course, he and his family would get a large sum of money, though he wasn't aware of the amount,' said the source.
Kasab said none of the 10 men was told that the 26 Nov assaults would be suicide attacks, which is why he was looking forward to a future as a family man. In fact, he said, his bosses promised to help them get out alive.
An officer who has experience dealing with terrorists said: 'The chiefs give them all kinds of assurances. Jihad, of course, is one and the promise of a wonderful life after death.'
One interrogator told the Washington Post that Azam has told police that he is from a village called Faridkot, in Pakistan's Punjab province, and that he dropped out of school after the fourth grade.
His father owned a food stall.
An acquaintance introduced Azam to Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2005, and he later trained with the group in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
According to the Daily News and Analysis India, there were teachers who trained the terrorists.
Each of the three dealt with different aspects - ground battle, water combat, quick planning and immediate decision-making.
Azam, it said, belonged to the group of 25 young recruits imparted with special training at camps in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Taiba.
'Investigations and interrogations of the arrested terrorist have indicated that they were trained by former soldiers.
Keeping mum
'Azam has, however, refused to divulge the nationalities of their trainers,' said police commissioner Hasan Gafoor at the first press conference he held after the attacks.
'Azam told us that they had been extensively trained in every aspect. He boasted that their group of 10 terrorists, who attacked Mumbai, could have taken on any Indian Navy vessel in the high seas,' said an interrogator on condition of anonymity.
In the training camps across the border, all 25 terrorists were shown graphic images of the Mumbai coastline, Taj and Oberoi Hotels and the CST, said Azam.
When the cops asked him what had he been told at the time of indoctrination, he replied, 'I was told that India is a far richer country than us and we want to destroy their economy. Hitting Mumbai will surely affect India economically.'
Azam spoke in Punjabi and a little bit of Urdu, and uttered words in English only when citing the names of weapons, an interrogator told the Washington Post.
He said Azam is a little more than 1.6m and had 'a muscular, well-trained body.'
He is being kept in solitary confinement and he is 'very calm but has a blank, cold stare all the time.'
The interrogator said, so far, Azam's story has remained consistent.
When he was arrested, police retrieved from his bulky, blue backpack one AK-47 machine gun, a pistol, magazines, a half-dozen hand grenades, raisins, cashews and the equivalent of a little more than US$110 (about $168).
Police said they are cross-checking Azam's confession with the data found in the cellphones and the satellite phone they recovered.
This article was first published in The New Paper on 4 Dec 2008.
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