Mercy For Terrorists Will Destroy India

Law is for those who believe in the law of the nation. Not for those who don’t believe in law. Such people should be brought to justice as soon as they are nabbed. There should be no compromise with any legal procedure as it results in loss of time and money of nation. I would even say that all such terrorists who have been awarded death penalty must be immediately hanged.

One still can’t believe it—the sudden hanging of Kasab has really taken one aback. It was just not expected. History stands testimony to the fact that our political parties in most of the cases have been very benign in allowing a terrorist to stay alive even after he is convicted by the Supreme Court. But is it really a good example?

One was just gobsmacked to see how people were distributing sweets on hearing that Kasab had been hanged. I am sorry to say but it’s an unpalatable truth that we Indians become happy very soon and lull into the dangerous territory of “unpardonable complacency”. There are thousands of Kasabs languishing in various jails all over India. If all those against whom terror-related charges have been proved are not hanged soon, many more may in the coming years escape and become another Azhar Masood and create new terror outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad which has emerged as one of the most dreaded terror organisations in the world. This undoubtedly will severely jeopardise our national security and national interests to which a section of our ruling elite has the bad habit of turning a Nelson’s eye!

One is not at all amused when one sees people distributing sweets on hanging of Kasab. What is there to celebrate? He was hanged after more than 40 crore rupees had been spent on him! if this money was spent on poor people, many of them would have been saved from dying of hunger.

Who attacked Mumbai in 1993 and killed more than 300 people? Who attacked Delhi High Court some time back and killed scores of people? Who attacked the Red Fort in 2005? Who attacked the Parliament in 2001? Who killed our former Prime Minister the late Rajiv Gandhi? Who killed former Punjab Chief Minister the late Beant Singh? Who killed more than 600 Indian soldiers and invaded Kargil? Who get training in various training camps in foreign countries like Pakistan? Who attacked Akshardham temple and shot innocent pilgrims? Who enjoy planting bombs in crowded places and killing innocent people? They all are inhuman terrorists.

Who enjoy blowing off trains as we saw in July 2006? Who enjoy hijacking airplanes? Who enjoy placing bombs in malls or cinema halls? Who can attack our nuclear installations? They are only terrorists who threaten to blow off holy shrines like Vaishno Devi, Amarnath, etc? Who plant landmines to kill our soldiers? For whom is a memorial built? Only for terrorists like Bhindrawale. Who are honoured for killing someone? Only terrorists as the killers of our former Army Chief Gen AS Vaidya were honoured. For whom do our State Assemblies pass resolutions opposing their hanging after being sentenced so? Whose mercy petitions have been kept on hanging for decades? Only of terrorists like that of killers of the late Rajiv Gandhi or the likes of Afzal Guru! Who are released after a VVIP like Rubaiya Sayyid is kidnapped? Only terrorists!

How many terror acts have taken place in last four decades? Umpteen times which cannot be counted but how many terrorists have been hanged? We can count them on our fingers. What about those Tamil terrorists who killed our dynamic and promising former PM Rajiv Gandhi? They have been sentenced to death by the Supreme Court but even after more than a decade, our government is just not prepared to hang them. Similar is the case with Afzal Guru who is the mastermind of the attack on our Parliament, which is the highest pillar of democracy, but our government trembles in hanging him and cares a damn about all those security personnel who sacrificed their own lives to save our MPs from being hijacked and killed. Yet, he in spite of being sentenced to death by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2005, is not hanged even after more than seven years. Many top legal luminaries including the former Attorney General very strongly believe that mercy petitions must be decided at the most in a few days or months and not in few years or decades as unfortunately we see now happening in our country.

For, terrorists deserve no mercy. A terrorist is a terrorist and there can be no justification whatsoever for any terror act. Terrorists must be exterminated mercilessly as they are exterminated in Arab countries including Saudi Arabia where they are killed after chopping off their hands and legs. An ordinary criminal like a dacoit or a robber affects or kills one or few persons but terrorists adversely affect our nation as a whole. Terrorists after getting all the training in terror camps attack our nation armed to the teeth by enemy countries. What pains one most is that our leaders enjoy releasing terrorists or holding talks with them and according VIP status to them. Is it correct or proper?

One does not fear ISI. One does not fear Taliban. One only fears those Indians who back terrorists in some form or other. All this only serves to embolden terror groups further and sends an unmistakable message to all and sundry that, “in India, one can get away even after committing the worst of crimes”. So one would like to add that to fight and eliminate the scourge of terrorism, all terror acts must be punished with death and nothing less is acceptable under any circumstances as terrorists are a threat to the entire nation and not just few individuals and no one can be above the nation.

By Sanjeev Sirohi