In the end Ajmal Kasab has got what he deserves. Four years after he became the face of terrorism against India, the slow wheels of the Indian judiciary and the dirt bed of the Indian political system have managed to together send him to his well deserved fate.
Kasab has maybe lived a better life in Indian jails than he would have in strife torn Pakistan. The four years might even have been more than he would have managed to stay alive back home. A four year holiday package with daily nourishment and security at the taxpayers expense might be what we gave him in the name of due process, but have we served a higher ideal by keeping him alive. I would like to think so.
Kasab could well have been shot that fateful day. No one could have blamed a spirited policeman for lodging a fatal bullet in his body that day. After all, Kasab was a Pakistani terrorist sent to mercilessly murder Indians. The police had witnessed civilians getting shot, their own colleagues dead, they would have been fully justified in being judge jury and executioner that day. The fact that it did not happen in itself speaks highly of he discipline and rationality of our security force. At least in the eyes of the world, we have passed the test of a law abiding society.
Bringing him in alive, albeit more for intelligence purposes that humanitarian considerations, served to give living flesh and blood to terrorism. Until then a common terrorist was just a monster bred in a training camp identified only by his bloodied corpse in an encounter somewhere. Only terrorist leaders and masterminds seemed to be rotting in Indian jails waiting for their Kandahar to get free. The foot soldier always arrived as a corpse. Kasab gave that monster a name,a village, a history.
The terrorist could now be separated from the terror. The common man reading the newspaper now knew how a terrorist grew up, that he has a family, circumstances no different than any strife ravaged region in our country. Without justifying his crimes in any way he taught us that he is also human. A bad human, to be punished with a deserving death, but human nonetheless. Kasab gave us a perspective we never had before. What makes a young man across the border willing to risk his life to kill us Indians in cold blood. The intelligence gleaned from him might be invaluable but so is the understanding.
Because one day we will have to stop treating the symptoms and address the problem. Why is our neighbour, with no provocation from our side that my history has taught us, so hell bent on destroying our society? What breeds these fanatic haters of our country? One day we will have to cross over and remove the hatred. Removing the guns in itself will not win us the war. Israel for all the technology and superpower support has learnt this the hard way.
There is no better way to remove barriers than education. By educating ourselves on the plight of the common Pakistani, distancing him from the militant leaders and bloodthirsty fanatics, we might yet be moving in the right direction. For in the end, for all the political and military manoeuvering, it is civil society that has to build bridges between the two nations.
Kasab has made me look at a terrorist in a new light. No longer do I see an evil monster. Only a mere pawn sucked into a game he does not understand. Swayed by illogical ideologies of heavenly glory and revenge, these pawns hide the true evil kings from their fate. Engage the common man and the kings will weaken on their own.
Easier said than done. To overturn the perception of our country from that of an enemy to that of a friend, a brother of common lineage will not happen in a day. But it is the long term vision we have to keep in mind in engaging Pakistan. Kasab might have been the start of an awakening in our society for the same.
Kasab might yet be worth the crores we spent on keeping him alive.
