Memoir 5: What now for Kasab?

(Kasab outside the Cama Hospital moments before he was attacked by police officers)

Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasabs' revalation in court last week has confused the Indian stance on punishment for the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai 26/11 attacks...


Mumbai/Bangalore - Tuesday 28th July 2009 - As swine flu takes its toll in the daily news round up (160 affected countries according to latest WHO estimates), the only news (literally) that is hitting the Indian newswires is that of the ongoing and rather confusing trial of an terrorist.

The photo that one will see at the beginning of my post still sends certain chills down my spine. In late November last year, this very photo was distributed throughout India and the world as Asia's greatest metropolis, Bombay (Mumbai), came under attack from what was assumed to be terrorists from Pakistan. Of course, for many days the Pakistani government denied this claim, until of course they confirmed that the lone surviving gunman was indeed a Pakistani national. With that news, the trial of Kasab has seen interest and conversation on the same scale as the USA engaged in during the famous murder trial of OJ Simpson. To the world, he is Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, but in India, he is simply known as Kasab.

(Kasab at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The photographer later described how Kasab "walked as if no-one can touch him")

Dressed in an Versace sweather with an backpack full of weapons and explosives, AK 47 tightly clenched in his hand, Kasab became the face of the 26/11 attacks on the Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House targets. His face, caught menacingly from the Times of India photographer at the time of the attacks, is one of the most controversial in India. All agree that he is an "terrorist", and many Indians believe that the fact that he is an Pakistani doesn't actually change anything to do with his punishment because he murdered and caused great anxiety in the most audacious terror attack since the Parliament bombings of 2001. Instead, many believe that he deserves the death penalty for his actions. The strongest viewpoint has come from the families of the deceased police and commando officers who lost their lives in those attacks (some by the hands of Kasab).

Kasab, along with nine others (all dead) committed robbery, murder, terrorism, waging war on India, destabalising the government, kidnap etc etc according to some of the 86 charges against him. In May, Kasab had pleaded NOT GUILTY at his hearing, therefore ensuring that an long and tiring trial WOULD take place. However, in one of the most controversial events in Indian criminal proceedings history, Kasab changed his plea and uttered GUILTY last week. Pleading for the judge to hear him out, Kasab recounted his whole tale of events, adding in emotion when needed and in the end asking for the death penalty for his crimes. Taken by surprise (on both the Prosecutors and Defence side), Kasab's revelation changes everything in this trial and in India. Many were hoping for a long trial that would eventually end in Kasab's hanging. But things have changed on that front, because Kasab's new revelation means that the sting of the trial seems to have lost its purpose. The questions Indians are now asking themselves is whether the trial should continue, or whether, like he has pleaded, he should just be hanged.

(Kasab at the Arthur Road Prison one month after the attacks)

It's a precarious position for India and it's people. Many claim that by hanging him, he becomes a martyr. But I don't necessarily think it does. May be he becomes a martyr for those with the same ideology as him, and not, as some Indian analysts claim, for the whole Pakistani nation. We cannot sit and think that this guy is a product of the Pakistani people. Yes there is tension between the two neighbours, but the fact remains, one man's actions doesn't represent the view of the country. Just look at George W Bush and Tony Blair. Many in Britain and the USA didn't want the Iraq invasion to take place, and after 6 years of occupation, those voices still claim the same, that it was those leaders, and not the people of a nation.

It's also made me think that should ones view come into account? Should Kasab's view be counted as to his punishment? Whether he says he wants to die or wants to live is irrelevant - it's whether his view should be made relevant?

The BBC World Have Your Say programme started to debate Kasab's revelation on Thursday, and many callers said that India's penal code only gives a maximum life sentence of 14 years, not like the 200 years etc that some countries hand down as sentences (USA etc). In this case, is 14 years enough? What happens if he is told to rot in jail and left there for 14 years? Is that justice for the police officers, constables, ATS and commando's killed on the streets of Mumbai on 26/11? Is that justice for the law enforcement officers who died because they weren't provided with the right equipment to keep them safe? For the Indian state, the trial must continue, but for the families of those traumatised and those that died, the life sentence isn't enough, because for them, death is the only way forward.

But the great father of this nation, the Mahatma, once said that "a eye for a eye makes the whole world blind", and to be honest, he wasn't wrong. Taking Kasab's life doesn't necessarily brandish the ills of that fateful day. In fact, by taking his life now, India loses out on three fronts; firstly, it loses its only suspect to the attacks, a suspect they could use in many ways to understand the failures of that day and to understand why and how; secondly, Kasab provides the key to the door that is locked between Pakistan and India. By offering Kasab as bait, India can discuss issues that are long withstanding between the two nations. Pakistan no longer denies his nationality, and it is in there interest to put him on trial for the crimes he committed. This may be a show trial at first, but would eventually break barriers that Pakistan claims it's trying to break; thirdly and finally, by not killing Kasab, India can still project its image of the pacifist nation that won't be engaging in such trivial matters of such punishment. Kasab's face is a terrible sight for all, especially when you see the carnage that he performed, but by taking Gandhiji's words, keeping Kasab alive for a long sentence shows India's defiance in using law and order to tackle these issues. Taking a man's life for the events he systematically involved himself in doesn't necessarily mean justice. Justice for who?

Kasab is worth more dead than alive, because in this game of political chess with Pakistan, he plays the key in finally having some "normal" relations. India's court has to be more holistic because the law says it should be. Its a tough time for the nation, but once again, this country must look at history before it makes any decision with Kasab's fate.

I saw this quote in Friday's DNA newspaper, and it may be relevant here in this case -

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times...

Ravin

Should the trial continue? Should Kasab be hanged at his will? What do you think? Leave your comments below...

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