By Onkar Nath:
Ajmal Kasab a terrorist who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and killed around 160 people was convicted of murder and other charges and sentenced to death and the verdict was withheld by the Supreme Court of India. This was enough for the common Indian people to start hating him and praying to God that he must be hanged as soon as possible in order to send out a message to the world that the Indians believe in non-violence and will never tolerate a heinous act such as this.
As of now, it seems that Kasab has become the butt of jokes on different social media platforms. The media has also paid a lot of attention to Kasab’s security, his food menu and a lot of other unimportant details about him. Last but not the least; the government has also extended full support in fulfilling Kasab’s recreational demands. As soon as he was supposedly down with dengue fever, the government ensured all the medical facilities in order to help him regain his health. On one hand thousands of Indian people are dying due to the non-availability of hospitals and doctors and on the other hand, the Government of India has been sending an important message to all terror related outfits that illustrate how brilliant our hospitality is when one kills our people and destroys our infrastructure. After the mosquito attack on Kasab, Indians feel that since the government machinery has failed to deliver the justice, Indian mosquitoes have stood up and are trying to take revenge by biting Kasab and making him suffer. Indian mosquitoes are now our national heroes. The very name ‘Kasab’ has now become a joke. If you now want to criticise some issues in a funny manner, do not hesitate in referring to Kasab.
In my opinion, we are simply trying to escape the harsh reality of terrorism. By cracking jokes on Kasab or including his name in the several silly jokes, we are setting a bad example for our next generation. When we mock at Kasab, our children do not see him as a murderer but as a caricature of sorts. We are becoming resilient not by choice but by force. It seems that we are simply living our life at the mercy of the God or by virtue of luck. No proper machinery seems to be functioning in India. Sometimes, I feel that the Communist society in China is much better than us. I strongly believe that if a situation akin to the Mumbai attacks had occurred in China, terrorists like Kasab would have been hanged within a few days.
To conclude, I would like to request our government to treat us in the same way they have been treating Kasab by extending the same kind of hospitality to us, when we commit crimes. Equality is after all, a virtue.