As i was switching through the mountain-out-of-mole-hill-makers (read the Indian English news channels) yesterday, I came across the flashing headline with which I have titled this post. There were brief interviews of the close relatives of the slain ATS chief Mr. Karkare and the Inspector Mr. Salaskar, in which the subjects demanded for immediate imposition of the death sentence on the lone surviving accused, Ajmal Kasab, on the ground that they were simply fed up with the prolonging investigations and trials. Well, it is true that the Mumbai tragedy occurred three- quarters of an year ago and the trials are still going on with Kasab having pleaded guilty only recently. His reported actions in the court like laughing at the judge and the prosecutor and demanding for the provision of amenities like newspapers, specific brands of toothpaste and the like in the jail, have irked and frustrated every rational Indian soul, including mine.
But the demand for the immediate hanging of Kasab is an irrational one, put forth on an angry and impatient impulse. He is a source of valuable evidence against the LeT or whichever mad cult he belongs to and he can simply not be executed without exploiting his knowledge of the entire base and operations of the deadly terrorists who threaten World Peace. He may not reveal the truth at the first instance and his contradictory stories may irritate us, but ultimately he happens to be just another 20-something old lad who cannot hold back things for long and will come out with everything regarding the operation, motives and plans of action of his gang.
Mulling over the last adjective I have used for him, I happen to feel a certain sympathy for the deadly, arrogant killer. He is probably elder to me by a few years- five at the maximum. Why has this young man evolved to be this kind of a monster and not a harmless well-disposed individual like millions of people who are his age? The answer is simple. He grew up in such an environment where these terrorist activities were (and are) not considered immoral. All teenagers naturally feel the need to be recognized and popular among their peers. While we, the gifted ones, grow up in an environment that is conducive to our positive development, like the gaining of the much yearned-for popularity by excelling in academics and personality-developing co- and extra-curricular activities, all that Kasab could do to be the most popular guy in his gang was to be a part of the terrorist group which he had been taught to hold in reverence. It might not have occurred to his brainwashed self that such purported "holy cleansings" (one of the euphemisms they employ for massacre) are, in actuality, against the interests of mankind which the factions plan to then protect with the imposition of their short-sighted and murky laws opposing the march towards a liberal and developed world. His is the case of a virtually blind boy who never knew how light looked as he was born and brought up in darkness.
Still, the angry Indians will not rest until the young lad is killed, for, in his death, they will see their revenge taken upon terrorism. I would definitely not be unhappy to see the monster in him dead, but that must wait until the monster comes out with all the ugly facts of its origination and growth.
