On the execution of Kasab

So finally Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist to participate in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, has been executed, after 4 years of interrogation and trial. The execution was managed quite smartly by the authorities -they never gave anyone an inkling about the upcoming execution, and reported it only after it was over. Thus they avoided unnecessary attention, hype and controversy all over the world. For once, Indian authorities showed that even they can be smart!

Until the unexpected news of his execution arrived, many Indians had been seething with rage for the past 4 years. They were upset that the government was not only delaying the execution, but actually spending astronomical amounts of money daily to ensure his security. And all this for a person who had caused the massacre of 50-odd people in CSTM station and around! Facebook was flooded with communities like "I want to kill Kasab" , and with posts ridiculing the government's handling of the issue. News portals regularly carried reports on how the government is spending money to ensure Kasab's security, without providing adequate aid to family members of the victims. After the execution, many of them are satisfied, though others would have been happier had the execution been public. They feel that "justice" has finally been done to India, and to the families of the victims. Reports are available that many of the victims families also do feel relieved after the execution. At the same time, some voices are singing different notes. They are anyway against death penalty/execution and feel that victory chants celebrating the execution are barbaric in nature.

I am neither a great supporter nor a strong opponent of execution in general. In Kasab's case, I feel there were significant practical reasons to execute him. The hype around him had made him important, albeit symbolically, to the terrorist organizations. There would always have been the danger of terrorists creating hostage crises, demanding his release. Besides, as already noted, having him in custody was causing a huge drain on the government exchequer. Possibly it was not worthwhile to run grave risks and spend huge sums of money on a ruthless murderer, and to get rid of him was a sensible decision.

On the other hand, I do not think this execution needs to be romanticized as "delivery of justice" and so on. It needs to be borne in mind that Kasab was actually a poor boy, sold to terrorist organizations, brain-washed by them and used as a pawn in an infernal plot. In that sense, Kasab is himself a victim of terrorism. He is a mass-murderer no doubt, and I do feel that he should be punished, but it should be understood that punishing  him, in whatever way, is not going to solve the greater problem of terrorism. Besides when Kasab and his comrades had come to attack Mumbai they were on a suicidal mission, and knew that they would probably die. His comrades all died in action, he died at the gallows, 4 years later. Whatever had to happen, just happened. There is no reason to talk about "justice" for this.

Finally, regarding the jubilant celebrations about his execution, I do not want to make any comment. I will not join such celebrations, and am tempted to say that I find them distasteful. But then my feelings on this matter are largely objective, since I was fortunate enough not to suffer any personal loss in the attack. I respect the feelings of those whose lives were scarred forever in that horrible incident.