Kasab is bored, needs a new lawyer

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Ajmal Kasab's court case seems to be better than the scripts of most of the Bollywood thrillers we are coming across these days. Even the ace Bollywood director Mahmohan Desai would have bowed down to the twists and turns in the case. As the nation observed the first anniversary of the brutal 26/11 killings in Mumbai there was a question looming around as to why has a verdict not been delivered in Kasab's case? Isn't our judicial system strong enough to nail a terrorists?

In another of those Bollywood like twists Abbas Kazmi the defence lawyer representing the 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab has been sacked. The reason cited by the judge is 'non-cooperation', wonder what that means in a open and shut case? This after Kazmi had said that he did not care about affidavits of witnesses filed by the prosecution. Now a hardcore terrorist's lawyer seems to have learnt a trait from his world renowned client.

Now there will be a huge buzz as to who the next lawyer would be in this case. What will follow is pretty much known, court will ask for some lawyers to take up the case. After much reluctance a name or two will come up following which political parties like the Shiv Sena and the MNS will stone the house of these lawyers forcing them to call it quits. The court will then be forced to appoint a lawyer on their own for a few more episodes. Wonder if Kasab is getting bored with all this?

Even if Kasab gets a death sentence, it will be challenged in the Supreme Court which will mean a few more anniversaries will pass by causing agony to the families of the martyrs and victims and regular embarrassment to Pakistan! Supreme Court will upheld the judgement which will then land up in President's court for mercy petition much like in the case of Mohammad Afzal Guru and Nalini. Rashtrapati Bhavan will have one more case to sit on hoping for IC 814 like hijack to relieve them of some pressure.

The question that the Aam Aadmi (Mango People) ask is why can't we have justice delivered? Why should we still have faith in the criminal justice system of the country? US terminated Saddam Hussain as soon as a single death sentence was pronounced upon him. All the other cases on him are being tried in absentia. It is understandable that India's 'peace loving attitude' doesn't allow it to take on terrorist in foreign soil but it should definitely allow us to deliver a strong verdict in a case like 26/11. Is this the rule of the law and democracy that we need to be proud of?

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Are we really safe?

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

As we observe the first anniversary of the 26/11 attack one question which is there in everybody's mind is are we safe? Can we hope that a 26/11 like attack won't happen again? These are questions which perhaps have no answers. Although the government has taken some measures to deal with such a terror scenario it has done very little to prevent 26/11 like incidents. The situation on the ground still remains a worrying factor for the society.

Although we have sent several dossiers to Pakistan what has that resulted in? Has the infiltration in J&K come down, or has Pakistan taken any concrete measures to deal with the handlers of 26/11 other than displaying mere tokenism? What makes our Prime Minister sign a joint declarations with a country which is fighting a proxy war against us? Why is it that we don't attempt to neutralise terrorists like Hafeez Sayeed thus taking the war to the conspirators of attacks against us?

The heroics of our NSG men during the attack meant that most of the states immediately demanded NSG hubs for their states. The civil society sees this as a full proof measure for their security. We couldn't be more wrong in our assumption. NSG is a reactive force and acts whenever there is a crisis situation. So they don't prevent a fiyadeen attack or a bomb blast in a busy market area. Secondly NSG being a highly skilled force small in number will only be called out during major operations.

It is the local police and the intelligence network that has to be strengthened. It is easier said that done as India has one of the worst police to people ratio in the world. Add to it the fact that most of these men are not armed (forget the term poorly armed) fighting terrorist becomes an impossible task. It isn't surprising that regularly being made to do ornamental duty around the politicians and bureaucrats, many of our policeman aren't fit to fight terror any more.

The civil society also has to take up responsibility of making the nation secure. How many of us really don't mind getting frisked? Isn't that for our own security? Are we willing to shed a little bit of our 'Fundamental Rights' which can go a long way in making our country secure? Why can't we think of citizen policing like it is practised many modern nations. Do we verify the identity of individuals before renting them a house or selling them a vehicle? Are we playing our part correctly?

We have to take strong measures to make our nation safe. The absence of a major attack isn't a concrete proof that our internal security system is in place. All of us see a completely different picture when we walk onto the streets and don't feel secured. As someone rightly put it we are safe till the next attack. So, lets not sleep till something worst that 26/11 happens.

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