Kasab is dead finally. UPA government has regained credibility in some sense by carrying out his execution, long overdue, as per the wishes of majority of Indians, barring a few Human Rights Groups and Anti- Capital Punishment Forums.
Opposition too, has welcomed the verdict, terming it late but a good step, in the interests of national security and integrity.
Constantly under attack, in and out of the parliament on various issues, the government stridently sent a sturdy message across the nation that it means business and has no time to indulge in any sort of rhetoric.
It is so intriguing to learn that the same government, adamant in not jumping the queue till a month back, for trying Ajmal Kasab on the priority basis, has retracted from its own stand.
If we look into the diverse aspects of the decision we can find many interesting viewpoints associated with the decree.
According to most of the political pundits in the country, the Kasab case was conducted in a much better and transparent way than Afzal Guru’s case of attack on parliament during the NDA rule; earning it accolades from all over the world.
It is well known, unlike Himachal, elections in the state of Gujarat are being fought between two unequal. Congress doesn’t have any strong chief ministerial candidate who can contest against the leader of Narendra Modi’s stature, effectively.
This particular step can help the Congress in the elections by portraying its “Narendra Modi style” hard stance towards terrorism, stealing some points from the BJP’s kitty.
Secondly, UPA will surely emerge victorious in attracting back many of the lost votes of younger population in India after the Lokapal agitation, social networking media control and many obnoxious instances of irresponsible acts of curbing the freedom of speech, both online and offline.
This step can go long way, as we all run on an emotional feed more than anything else; no matter how much we deny the fact.
UPA can dream, at least for a while, of securing a huge majority in the coming Parliamentary elections. Killing “many’’ birds with one stone has traditionally not been the forte of any Indian government, but it has surprised many out of the blue.
It seems by far that UPA II has seriously earned some brownie points for itself.
With Kasab hanged for his terrorist crime, the huge expenditure of about Rs 31 Cr for having kept him alive and providing him security would help in lightening the Finance Minister burden of containing the country’s runaway fiscal deficit.
Though the government is gung ho about numerous pros coming out of the decision but the coin has another face too.
Pakistan has always been in denial over accepting Kasab as one of its citizen.
As soon as India informed Pakistan about the execution of Kasab, the dilemma in Pakistan is writ all over.
Premier Pakistani news channels like Dawn news are bold enough to report him as a Pakistani national, while questioning about fairness in the trial.
The dilemma is all the more stark over Pakistan not being in a position of demanding back the dead body of its “illegitimate” foot soldier.
- The burning Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai
Given its predicament, Pakistan has come under heavy pressure from its ever dominant terrorist machinery.
There is anguish among many citizens of Pakistan; urging it to retaliate as soon as possible.
Evidently, this upfront move of the government may water down the normalization of relations with Pakistan.
However, Pakistan Interior Minister, Rehman Malik has chosen to downplay the issue. We hope that it is not the silence before a deadly storm, as has been the case on several earlier occasions.
In many sections of the society, fears about release of Sarabjeet Singh from a Pakistan jail are on the rise.
No two cases could be different. While Ajmal Kasab was caught alive in the 26/11 terrorist carnage in Mumbai, Sarbjeet Singh is a Indian death row prisoner languishing in a Pakistani jail for the last 22 years booked over mistaken identity.
Hope for Sarbjeet release lies in normalisation of relationships between the two countries.
Lastly India needs to tighten up its security for there could be retaliation in many ways, as can be made out from the caveats issued by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Taliban.
A mechanical engineering graduate with a post graduation in marketing and sales, Ashish has combined professional experience of more than 4 years.
Ashish is a great fan of Martin Scorsese. He loves to write poetry in his spare time.
He lives in Shimla.
