No rope trick this

As the joke goes, hell is just a local phone call away in Pakistan. Reason probably why so many are hell-bent on scooting from that wretched land, dreaming of reaching the long distance Paradise that their preachers purvey with the marketing zeal of tourist operators. The problem for the rest of the world, particularly India, arises when these indoctrinated travellers make stopovers en route to collect their tickets, punched by bullets or bombs and marked in infidel blood.

The point is, dispensing death all around and thereby ‘deserving’ their own death is part of the package that these suicide squads have voluntarily signed for. Kasab and his ilk are not innocent pawns but willing and well ingrained co-conspirators. So there is absolutely nothing wrong in obliging them with what they themselves were desperately seeking. We must happily concede the jihadis’ wish, but ideally before they inflict more human damage. To their comfort, we can say that there must be some provision in their terror manuals by which even attempted or unsuccessful attacks would entail a pass to paradise. Their deaths being a given, the question therefore is only about timing. Those using the Kasab context to kick up the hackneyed debate on death penalty will do well to ponder over this.

Let’s invoke some morbid, albeit muddled, logic. Nine other terrorists, all Kasab’s mates in murder, were killed on those fateful days. Now, were their killings too unfair ‘capital’ punishment, delivered without even the due process of law? Were their lives so lesser than that of K that not a single human rights activist felt upset at their killing (thankfully!)? Or, in what way was K superior that so many hearts bleed over his neck meeting the noose? After all, the whole killer-lot was similarly motivated, were on the same mission, performed identical duties and reconciled to the same fate! Had K been killed that day, he would have been one more anonymous assassin, bunched under the collective term ‘terrorists’. Does K deserve better treatment only because he managed to dodge the bullets unlike his fellow travellers? Indeed, if anything, K’s is a case of justice delayed w.r.t to his long dead friends!

And possibly justice denied if delayed any further. For, we know of this soft State’s indulgent tendencies, as displayed in Kandahar and almost everyday in its so-called diplomatic engagement with Pakistan, not to speak of the handling of home-grown green brigades with political kid gloves. So, when the Home Minister Shinde claimed that even the PM was in the dark on Kasab’s execution, I wanted to believe him. And also congratulate him, more for keeping the PM out of the loop than for the clinical hanging. Given MSingh’s penchant for equating India and Pak as equal victims of terror or for granting the nasty neighbour the MFN status for business deals and his proclivities for peace talks even in the face of relentless terror, Kasab’s ticket would have been on permanent wait list. It also helped that the new Pranab-Shinde combo had a better sense of national interest than the earlier Prathiba-PC duo and so quietly jumped the queue! That the media too, particularly the likes of Arnab Goswami, were not ‘consulted’ in advance on this terrific breaking news issue, ensured that K’s wait-listed ticket was quickly confirmed without much primetime ado!

The fears over K’s possible immortal status are therefore not totally unfounded. For one, Afzal Guru is a ‘living’ example. But worse is the fatal choice that could face those engaged in fighting terrorists in urban alleys and crowded places. For instance, from the point of view of utility value to national security and diplomacy, K’s capture and trial may have helped get vital evidence and global goodwill. But if capture does not end in capital conviction and its actual consummation, the tendency of anti-terror security personnel would be to eliminate in encounter or soon after capture, in all stealth and speed. Such instant justice would be a sensible and popular option also because it would save much national agony and expense. Will anti-death penalty activists relish that position? Indeed, I dread to think of the scenario in which more of K’s deadly team were captured than killed.

By the way, since Kasab has been deleted, it is time to erase all those jokes too. Particularly the one that suggests we name our computer ‘Kasab’ so that ‘it never hangs’! He does, after all!!

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