Pakistan shied away from owning up Ajmal Kasab till the 25-year-old met his end at Yerawada Jail in Pune early on Wednesday.
Though New Delhi on Tuesday tried to convey to Islamabad that Kasab would be sent to the gallows soon, officials of the Pakistan Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to accept or acknowledge the communiqué from India.
The High Commission of India in Islamabad subsequently faxed the communiqué to the Pakistani Foreign Office, along with a copy of the letter from the Maharashtra government to Kasab’s family at Faridkot in Punjab province of the neighbouring country.
“We attempted to convey to Pakistan’s Foreign Office that this decision (to hang Kasab) has been taken and the execution will be done this morning. Since those missives were not accepted by the Foreign Office, by fax we indicated the information to them,” External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told journalists hours after Kasab was executed at 7-30 a.m. on Wednesday.
“Therefore,” he added, “our obligation to inform them adequately was fulfilled. We also had in our possession a particular address given by Kasab and we did convey to that address as well the decision that had been taken.”
He was a hero, says LeT
Meanwhile, Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba said that Kasab’s hanging will inspire more attacks. “He was a hero and will inspire other fighters to follow his path,” the commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) said over telephone from an undisclosed location.
Kasab was the lone survivor of the LeT terrorist squad.
Pakistan’s Taliban too expressed shock over the execution. “There is no doubt that it’s very shocking news and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil,” Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said.
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