verdict on kasab (Page 4)

Last night I saw different views of Pak media and  legal experts comments...Pak senior Advct Gohar Khan wants a fair trial...!!! Kasab was caught red handed murdering innocent people. He should be glad that in India we follow a democratic system...I strongly believe,Kasab deserves no mercy..He should be punished which Terrorist should get the message that if they do such things.. Let world know the punishment of killing innocents. Let he feel the pain of such barbaric act.

Terming the case as the rarest of rare, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the anti-terror court, "Such a monster should be given death penalty.... He is an agent of devil himself.

"If Kasab is given lesser punishment, India will become a soft target for every self-styled terror group," Nikam said in his arguments over quantum of sentence to the terrorist. Yesterday Special Judge M L Tahaliyani had found him guilty of mass murder and waging war against India.

Seeking death for Kasab, Nikam said, "Kasab has lost every right to live. He was not happy after killing 72 persons and wanted to kill more."

Nikam claimed Kasab was in a "joyous" mood after seeing people dying in pain and agony after opening indiscriminate fire at the bustling Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and elsewhere on November 26, 2008.

"There was no remorse and he said in his confession before the magistrate that he wanted to inspire future fidayeens (suicide killers).

"If death is not awarded, it would be a mockery of justice," Nikam concluded.

I saw part of the McVeigh tapes when they were released. From what little I saw it was a fascinating exploration of the psyche of sociopath. There was a lot more information on how he thought, how he functioned, how he behaved, how he planned that was not known before. For ordinary people it is too much ado about a man who should have been killed right away. For criminal investigators, especially terrorist interrogators it was a bigger step towards learning how to fine tune their fight against terror.

The chilling thing about McVeigh is that he had no remorse or fear. No matter what he still thought of himself as an American hero and that his death was not punishment but honorable martyrdom. That is the problem with terrorists. We say death penalty because for ordinary people like us who value and respect all human life – death is a punishment. We think by putting terrorists to death we are giving them the ultimate punishment and are sending a strong signal.

The problem is terrorists do not think like us. A person who risks their life to harm others obviously have no regard for life. Those who will callously kill children and innocents as collateral really do not value life the way we do. Death is not punishment to them. Its just an occupational hazard. While we think we are sending a strong message, there are people out their being ingrained with the thought of honorable martyrdom and dying for a cause – and having refreshed enthusiasm for terror.

When we think of long term benefits for society, whats more valuable than a dead terrorist – a live terrorist in secure responsible custody. What is more punishment to terrorists than dying for honor – being broken and used against their own cause. Terrorists may not break and reveal much immediately – but the longer they are in custody – the longer they have to endure the lack of freedom and normal human dignity – the more likely they are to break. The longer we observe and study them the more likely we are to know more about their psychology as well as their organization and sources – so in the future we better know their breaking pressure points and how better to reach the masterminds.

No I honestly have no sympathy for terrorists or feel some noble need to save them. Their life has no value to me, so if killing is what people want – then killing them it is. I just think death is too kind for sociopaths. Why not make use of them, make the most of what we have – and make them live a life on our terms where they may pray for death. Also death sentence for terrorists would be nicer if we could go all medieval – you know impalement, boiling and all that jazz.