Two decades is a long time to pronounce final judgment on a case of heinous crime. Our country has a very comprehensive and elaborate judicial system that is supposed to deliver justice without prejudice and without bias. General opinion is that judicial process in our country is a lengthy and complicated system. The axiom that justice delayed is justice denied cannot be taken on its face value in every case. Doing justice is a time consuming process and nobody can think of a short cut to that process.
Way back in 1993, a gang of terrorists, guided and assisted by a foreign intelligence agency, hatched a massive conspiracy in which they undertook using RDX for making several blasts in the financial capital of the country, Mumbai. The blasts took a heavy toll of 257 lives and over 700 persons were injured. Magnitude of the crime will be understood by the fact that in 2006 the TADA court convicted 100 persons out of 123, gave death sentence to 12 and 20 others were given life term. However, they appealed to the Supreme Court and now the Apex Court’s decision has come. It has held the death sentence of Yakub Memon, the prime conspirator and brother of underworld supremo, Dawood Ibrahim. Thirty-three others have been given life imprisonment.
In the process of prosecution, the Apex Court has, though unusually but befittingly cast aspersions on Pakistan’s super intelligence agency ISI. Based on the confessions of the convicted persons, the Court has established the involvement of ISI in providing green line to the convicts for entry into and departure from Pakistan. There they were given training in manufacturing RDX bombs, subversion and acts of terrorism. This is one more and perhaps the most irrefutable evidence against Pakistan intelligence’s involvement in this heinous crime of mass murder. It has to be noted that Dawood Ibrahim, the underworld don, fled India soon after the bombs were blasted and human tragedy caused. Ever since, he has been hiding in Pakistan or shuttling between Pakistan and the Gulf countries to avoid arrest. Pakistan has been brazenly denying presence of Dawood in that country whereas reliable sources have seen him freely moving in a posh locality of Karachi.
The culprits of the bomb blasts have been brought to book at the end of the day. True, there has been inordinate delay in dispensing justice but the process could not be rushed through. The redeeming factor is that the Supreme Court has gone to the very root of the conspiracy and unveiled the hands that are besmeared with human blood. As there is no bigger and more convincing proof of ISI’s involvement than the footnotes in the verdict of the Supreme Court, the question is how is the Government if India going to take this into view while repeating the policy of conducting bilateral talks with Pakistan. Will the Government convey relevant excerpts of the judgment to Pakistani authorities who have been orchestrating the rhetoric of convincing proof to prosecute Pakistani nationals accused by India for having played a role in the bomb blast case of Mumbai?
One more important aspect reflected by the judgment of the Supreme Court is that there is a widespread network of pro-terror activists in this country. Pakistani intelligence agency seems to have made moles in them, and provides them covert support to execute acts of terrorism that are aimed at destabilizing the country. Kashmir is not the only and the specific field where their subversive activities are conducted. It means that our security organization shall have to bring in drastic changes in its function of controlling terror. Our policy planners are already seized of this concern. Nevertheless, the court verdict has alerted them further.
It is noteworthy that the Supreme Court has expressed extraordinary matured and pragmatic approach in deciding to convert the death sentence of 20 convicted into life imprisonment. This lessening of punishment may not be taken well by those whose kith and kin were killed in the blasts, nevertheless the Court has taken into consideration the precise role performed by them, and has felt that they were only like arrows shot by somebody else, and as such, their crime cannot be equated with those who prompted them to act on their behalf.
This judgment is a clear warning to all militants, subversives, terrorists and anti-national elements that the law of the land will take its course sooner or later and nobody can escape the heavy hand of law.
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