Operation X: Closure for some, fleeting satisfaction for others

A blow-by-blow account of how meticulously India’s most secret execution was planned.


Aditi Phadnis November 23, 2012

NEW DELHI:


Ajmal Kasab’s hanging is going to be an affair to remember in Indian history.


Local media on Thursday had a blow-by-blow account of how the Pakistan-born 25-year-old’s hanging was planned.

It was in utmost secrecy that the Congress Core Group – comprising the topmost leaders from the Congress Party and the incumbent government – discussed and meticulously outlined the exact sequence of events which led to the second execution in India in the last 15 years.

Kasab’s execution seemed like a political decision — several ministers on Thursday were at pains to point out that the event had been endorsed even by Muslims in India. All the crucial elements of the establishment – including the president, home ministry, prime minister’s office, the Congress Core Group and the Congress president’s office – were involved.

The whole affair, called the Operation X, was overwhelmingly clandestine. The government’s biggest fear was that if the news of a Pakistani terrorists’ execution was leaked, a community could have become impassioned to take the law into its own hands, inviting retaliation from other communities and in no time, rioting could have started. For the state, it seemed imperative to prevent all this at any cost.

On October 16, 2012, India’s union home ministry recommended to the president that he reject Kasab’s mercy plea. The file reached Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on November 5 and the same day he returned the file with the remark, “Rejected”.

On November 8, the Maharashtra government was briefed by the union home ministry about the president’s decision. Fewer than 75 people were involved in the entire exercise. On November 11, the judge, who was supposed to sign the death warrant, was taken into confidence. He fixed the date, place and time of Kasab’s execution — and was requested not to mingle with the public till Kasab was hanged.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2012.

COMMENTS (16)

kvs | 11 years ago | Reply

The government’s biggest fear was that if the news of a Pakistani terrorists’ execution was leaked, a community could have become impassioned to take the law into its own hands, inviting retaliation from other communities and in no time, rioting could have started.*

Such comments are coming from that country where Muslims kill Muslims and call itself a Islamic Republic.

Rahul | 11 years ago | Reply

Finally some good work by Congress. Now they need to plan "Operation Y" for Mohammed Hafeez, and "Operation Z" for Dawood Ibrahim. Well Done President of India and Home Minstry !!.

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