Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Defending a dead noose

Dear oversensitive lesser mortals, this piece I'm about to write is basically an attempt at beginning a sentence with Kasab, pausing with mercy before ending it with killing. So please don't hold your moralistic breath and choke on it. Thanks in advance.
Last week, we got rid of Kasab. For good or bad, we're not sure yet. In all probability, we'll never be. Long live politics but more about it later. However, given the hype the whole secret hanging in Pune created, it seems like a major chunk of our populace is rather glad that the 25-year-old Punjabi (no, he didn't speak Urdu just in case you're one of those ignorant morons who think all Pakistanis are Urdu-speakers) is no more. According to them—and the obedient media in tow—his killing (yes, capital punishment is an euphemism for murder) provides an emotional closure to the grieving families of those who lost their lives on that fateful night of 26/11.
     First of all, it doesn't. People who lose their loved ones remain so till the end of the time. Nothing can possibly repair that damage. Nothing. As far as Kasab is concerned, the idiot visited our city with the sole intention of dying. He was on a suicide mission in case you've forgotten. Come to think of it, we were winning (if at all there was a contest) by keeping him alive. The diplomats who were fighting our case (terrorism is the word) at international forums would be better-equipped to explain the sheer delight of having a failed suicider locked in a high-security prison. But then, the public acts in a certain way. Let's call it the cowardly attitude. On witnessing a car accident, they go surround the car driver instead of helping the victim first. Something similar happened with Mumbai attacks. Nobody bothered to check on the 164 victims—forget the 308 wounded souls. We always look for the easy way out. We want action and it doesn't matter whether it fruition to a reasonable outcome. And in this particular scenario, what better effigy to burn than a warm-blooded young Pakistani? No wonder we gave into prejudice. For beginners, we merrily believed everything our newspapers spoonfed us about him. Not that it matters whether every little detail reeked of veracity or not but NOBODY questioned ANYTHING about him. There was way too little that ever came out of that little room he was interned in to start with. On the outside, it was cute how the otherwise cynical analysts readily convinced themselves that the government was diligently spending every single rupee of the alleged 29+ crore slotted to keep Kasab breathing. Just like we conveniently accepted that the deranged crook was being fed biryani on a daily basis. Yes, we may have taken our Atithi Devo Bhava crap way too seriously with him but then, he was also the only living proof of a Paki terrorist on Indian soil (Afzal Guru is one of us considering the possibility that Kashmiris are one of us). In any case, our scammed politicos have pushed numerical digits to such an extent that a few crore doesn't sound like a raw deal. Nonetheless, during the time he was in our jail, not a single Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack took place in India. In the meantime, only a few over-smart local Muslims and over-stupid Hindus were involved in some recorded stray events, proving a point in how much we suck at terrorism!
     Going back to politicians, don't you think it's not a mere coincidence that they hanged the fall guy just a few days before the start of a turbulent winter Parliament session? For humour's sake, couldn't they have waited for five more days to coincide the hanging with the fourth anniversary of the dreaded day? Ahem. Just to be clear, I'm against death penalty. In my mind, eliminating one life in exchange of several lives doesn't add up well. We need to separate ourselves from our villain. Besides, for a nation of 1.22 billion, we've executed only two people in the last 15 years. Isn't that a shame? We are not even good at LEGALLY bumping off people. C'mon, don't tell me we don't have criminals who have committed deeds heinous enough to *deserve* death. Having mentioned that, i don't have a clue what we should have done with Kasab if he
were alive today. Maybe we should have given him the worst imaginable punishment... by sending him back to Pakistan! All things said and done, he was a misguided youth and the place where he comes from, there are dreamless kids raring to bask in his much-awaited martyrdom. Nothing can stop them from crossing an imaginary line, be it on water or on land. Anyway, I'm glad that Kasab was reportedly hanged. Since we've already lost Yashji to dengue, we couldn't have afforded to lose Kasab to mosquitoes. Image ka sawaal hai, boss. And as for the hanging part, it was just another day for Kasab.

5 comments:

shimmeringmoonlight said...

Shakespeare would've been proud of you.He might even have been inspired to re-write Mark Anthony's speech!(A very sincere compliment.....just in case.....though i have no sympathy for Kasab,gullible or not!)

minusten said...

i am a Pakistani, and i have no sympathy for terrorist regardless of him being called a Muslim name or having links with Pakistan or what so ever.

As far as the prosecution is concerned i believe, core objective should be to eliminate the crime and not just the elimination of criminal, in this particular case i think the objective of having a solid reason to give Pakistan a blame for whatever it is going wrong in India now and in future is successfully achieved and nothing else.

on write up part shakti bhai kammal hay boss :)

Hardik Rajgor said...

Rational points there S! Nobody talks about how much he might have been beaten, tortured day in day out by the Mumbai police. All keep boasting about crores of rupees being spent on him. He was important evidence to establish that the attack was triggered from Pakistan.

The sad part is - we're fighting terrorists, not terrorism.

saif said...

Dude!! Paragraphs!! :)

Anonymous said...

RAW!
no not our intelligence (corrupt) wing , but this blog, its RAW in its own way!

not showing any sympathy here, that lad was brain washed at the age, when guys of his age are busy enjoying the adulthood. #inyouknowwhatimean

The dude was crying in his interrogation. Said he made a mistake. He didnt even wanted to carry on the Terrorist Camp where he was joined.

sadly, he was forced, coming from a poor family whose father had a stall of Dahi Vada, what can he or kids like him do to overcome the poverty?
Faasi ki saza, like Shakti said, it given only Twice in a decade, and we all are proud of it!! Really?
West have abolished this punishment totally from their law, We still keep on running the same old crap.! Tradition, Culture, . .. falana dhikana.!!
In the west the wort punishment to a human would be, a life inprison.

Dengue or Time.
Politics is the most fav game of India!
Kasab was a closed chapter for Pak right from the day he was captured near the peaceful grounds of Girgaon Chowpatty. New chapter for Indian Politics.

Sadly Human Lives are .. ... (all yours)


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