By IANS,
Mumbai : Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray Tuesday criticised the “special treatment” accorded to Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone Pakistani terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks, and demanded that his trial be wrapped up within a month.
In a scathing editorial in Saamna, the party mouthpiece, Thackeray said a huge amount of tax-payers’ money has been wasted in providing security to “Kasab Saheb” (Kasab Sir).
“So much security is not even provided to the country’s prime minister. All this because we want to prove to the world that we are such a strong democracy and that we will give an opportunity of defence to even those who attack us and destroy our country,” the editorial noted.
Thackeray alleged that with the Indian government taking care of all his needs, Kasab – who appeared in court wearing jeans, T-shirt and perfume – must have started loving life in an Indian prison as compared to impoverished Pakistan.
Hence, “Kasab Saheb” has suddenly remembered that he is below 18 years of age, and that the motive was to capture Jammu and Kashmir after the government appointed lawyer S.G. Abbas Kazmi to defend him.
“At this rate, the trial will go from lower courts to higher courts and then for a presidential pardon, as in the case of Afzal Guru,” the signed piece pointed out.
It urged that the trial be completed within a fortnight to a month; Kasab should be given punishment against which he cannot appeal in any higher court and the matter be disposed of.