NEWS ANALYSIS: OUTRAGEOUS!

By Kartik Lokhande
This is the only word that can best describe the acts of self-proclaimed intellectuals, judicial activists lacking in prudence, and learned individuals who are out-of-sync with the overwhelming national sentiment. And, there was one more segment -- the media. All these put together staged an outrageous show before the nation, and achieved in part what they set out for -- polarisation on communal lines using the hanging of terror convict Yakub Memon’s hanging.
It all started with the issuance of death warrant regarding Yakub’s hanging reaching to his family. Within a matter of a few days, the nation was stirred up with the ‘anarchist elements’ opening up a front to discuss why the terror convict -- whose acts resulted in killing of 257 innocents and left more than 700 persons injured in 1993 serial bomb blasts -- should not be hanged. They roped in activists, became activists, ranted and panted day in and day out. In all this, Nagpur -- the city where Yakub was to be hanged in jail on July 30 -- remained calm and presented an example of social and religious harmony. Hence, the ‘anarchist elements’ shifted the centre of all the debate and stirring up to Mumbai and Delhi, where most of the so-called activists and media stalwarts and thinkers and intellectuals find it easier to look at everything from communal point of view.
And, what did they do? They started speaking out various theories with the sole intent of disturbing communal peace and harmony in the country at the moment. First, as a matter of design, they floated the theory that convicts in other cases were not hanged and only Yakub was being hanged as he was a Muslim. Blinded by communal hatred, which stemmed from political hatred, they went on to demand hangings of ‘accused’ in various cases, forgetting the simple fact that a death row ‘convict’ only can be hanged.
As expected, only the communally charged elements and the likes picked up this theory and went on ranting that only Muslims were being hanged. So blinded were these elements with communal politics that they forgot that Yakub’s eldest brother Suleman Memon was acquitted, Yakub’s wife Raheen was acquitted, Yakub’s mother Haneefa was acquitted. And, all of these are Muslims. Isn’t it proof enough that Indian judiciary and Indian Government (irrespective of party in power) is not biased on religious lines?
When the communal card failed, the so-called intellectuals came forward with the potent tool of media and planted things that did not come up in over two decades since the arrest of Yakub till rejection of his mercy petition by the President of India in 2014. One of these was an article by (now late) Mr B Raman, who headed Counter-Terrorism Division in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). In an attempt to sensationalise the article written in 2007 by the celebrated officer, it was presented in such a manner as to give the impression that Yakub had surrendered or was lured into coming to India.
The article is available on the Internet. I quote an important paragraph from the article of Mr B Raman: “He (Yakub Memon) had come to Kathmandu secretly from Karachi to consult a relative and a lawyer on the advisability of some members of the Memon family, including himself, who felt uncomfortable with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, returning to India and surrendering to the Mumbai police. The relative and the lawyer advised him against surrender due to a fear that justice might not be done to them. They advised Yakub to go back to Karachi. Before he could board the flight to Karachi, he was picked up by the Nepal police on suspicion, identified and rapidly moved to India.” This makes it clear that Yakub was advised against surrender and he was picked up when he was about to board the light to Karachi.
When even this ploy of the self-professed thinkers got exposed, though not to a wider extent because of inherent lack of enthusiasm among Indian masses to take efforts and see the original articles, they came up with new cause -- India must abolish capital punishment. Those sitting in air-conditioned chambers in Mumbai and Delhi debated this aspect, with a plea that Yakub should not be hanged. Sadly, the elitist media quoted selective details about capital punishment being shunned across the world.
As per the report of Amnesty International, in the year 2014, China executed the highest number of persons but kept the number a ‘State Secret’, followed by Iran with 289 executions, Saudi Arabia with 90 executions, Iraq-- 61, US-- 35, and so on. The 22 countries that carried out judicial executions included India’s neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan also. In fact, the Amnesty International report stated that in Saudi Arabia, more than half of executions were carried out for ‘non-lethal crimes’ and in Iraq ‘death sentences often handed down after grossly unfair trials.’ It is surprising that the champions of human rights of inhuman killers forgot to quote from the Amnesty report, which is often a gospel truth for them. Some half-baked individuals mentioned that even a country like Israel beset with terrorism had not carried out execution for a long time. These intellectuals forgot the simple fact that Israel does not give judicial trials to terrorists like India does, she just eliminates those criminals of humanity.
Not exposed on this count, the intellectuals-activists-media nexus mounted pressure on judiciary to entertain even the last-minute pleas of the terror convict. The Supreme Court also conducted an unprecedented past-midnight hearing just a few hours ahead of Yakub’s hanging. Though the judiciary’s decision reaffirmed faith of Indians in it, public sentiment was against such hearing. Most of the citizens were surprised and shocked with the Supreme Court entertaining last-minute pleas of a terror convict, and wondered if the highest court in the country would be kind to the same extent in case of pleas of other convicts. People also flooded social media with comments questioning if the Government would ensure that its top-most officers functioned well past midnight if a poor person with no money required timely assistance at the top Government hospital or a police station?
Using these ploys one after another, and attempting to exploit loopholes in laws and the ‘system’, the ‘anarchist elements’ achieved in part what they wanted. Since Yakub’s hanging, some blind-folded elements in the society have got communally polarised -- to this side or that. And, if any communal disturbance takes place in near future, these ‘anarchist elements’ need to be held responsible and punished adequately to prevent any such outrageous acts in future. 

(01-08-15)