New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) The Maharashtra government Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the 2008 Mumbai terror attack by convict and Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab was an attempt to wage a war against India and its people and not just the government.

Senior counsel Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the state government, told the apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad that the Nov 26 attack was an "attempt to wage war against the country and its people and not just the government".

He said this to counter amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran, appearing for convict and Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, who contended that the conviction of Kasab was vitiated as it lacked that essential ingredient that differentiated waging war against the government from waging war against the country.

As Subramanium said that the Mumbai terror attack amounted to waging war against the country, Justice Alam said: "This is exactly what we had been saying to the amicus curiae."

The court was hearing Kasab's plea challenging the upholding of his conviction and award of death penalty.

Kasab was convicted and awarded death sentence by a Mumbai trial court May 6, 2010. Besides other charges, he was convicted for waging war against the nation. The Bombay High Court upheld the verdict Feb 21, 2011.