Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the single survivor of a squad of terrorists from Pakistan who killed 166 people in Mumbai, India, in 2008, was executed by hanging until death in the early hours of Wednesday. A Pakistani national, Kasab wearing a black-T shirt and brandishing an AK-47 rifle as he indiscriminately gunned down passersby at a busy train station, showed to the world what terrorists actually meant – killing without rhyme or reason.
This is India’s first death execution since 2004.
Kasab was a part of a classic terrorist attack squad, bred and trained in Pakistan by Lashkar-e-Taiba, that arrived in Mumbai via the Arabian Sea on Nov. 26, 2008. After landing, the squad of ten terrorists, immediately split up into four groups and went on a killing spree. They holed up in two hotels and a Jewish center in the city, and fought off commandos for over 60 hours.
Gopalapuram Parthasarathy, a former ambassador of India to Pakistan told Reuters, “Kasab was a foot soldier, the generals are in Islamabad, in Pakistan, and full justice will be done when they are brought to justice.”
The dreaded terrorist, who killed innocent people by scores, lost his nerve after he learned that his death sentence had been upheld by the Supreme Court of India. According to Raju Ramachandran, one of Kasab’s lawyers, the terrorist was scared of hanging and even asked him, “Can you please help me get out of jail?”
Bena Sarwar, a journalist and human rights campaigner in Pakistan commented on Facebook, “He was a pawn … Those responsible, who orchestrated the Mumbai episode, trained and poisoned young minds to carry out the carnage, remain free.”
The head of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, regularly attends public meetings in Pakistan and publicly mocks a $10 million American bounty for information that can lead to his capture.
The trial of seven Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, who are accused of masterminding the attacks on India from Pakistan, continues in that country at a snail’s pace.