Victims' families react on Kasab's hanging

Thank the President for rejecting Kasab's mercy plea, say other perpetrators in Pakistan should also be brought to justice

"The first thing that comes to my mind is what happened is good. We are happy that we have got justice," wife of a railway ticket collector, who was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai carnage, said today reacting to Pakistan terrorist Ajmal Kasab's hanging.

Ragini Sharma, whose husband S K Sharma was killed in the 2008 terror strike, said she would like to thank the President for rejecting Kasab's mercy plea.

"I would like to thank the President. However, it got delayed but we did get justice. I am happy that it (the hanging) was done secretly, otherwide some human rights people would have opposed it," she said.

 

Vishnu Zende, an announcer at the Chhtrapati Shivaji Terminus, the railway station here which was one of the targets of the attack, said, "I had never thought that I would get to hear this news like this."

"I am very happy that he has been hanged. All the people who died in the terror attack have been given tribute by hanging him," Zende, who had helped save many lives by making announcements over the public address system in the station about the strike, said.

Mukesh Agrawal, who survived when the Taj Hotel in Mumbai was attacked during the 2008 carnage, said Kasab should have been hanged four years ago.

"But today what has happened is very good. It is a very good gift to the victims' families. The government has given a New Year gift," he said.

K Unnikrishnan, father of NSG commando K Unnikrishnan, who was killed in the Taj Hotel strike, said, "The way in which the execution has been done, it is a model way.
Before anybody could react to the rejection of the mercy petition (of Kasab), everything is over. That is the thing which I cherish."

Unnikrishnan, a retired ISRO official, said, "Definitely there was a long way to go for the sense of closure. Kasab's execution is only one chapter. The perpetrators are still moving around in Pakistan and the anti-India thinking in Pakistan is too much now, it should come down."

He said finally justice has been done in one case.

"The root cause is hatred that is still there and in my opinion that spoils the general calm attitude in India. I still feel many more things have to be done. We should not lose the momentum because we have hanged a culprit. That is not closure," Unnikrishnan said.

Expressing satisfaction over Ajmal Kasab's hanging, Eknath Omble, brother of assistant police sub-inspector Tukaram Omble who died while trying to capture the terrorist, today said he should have been executed in public.

Tukaram Omble was killed while trying to capture Kasab on the dreaded night of November 26, 2008.

"I am proud and very happy that my brother's efforts have paid off," a visibly jubilant Eknath said.

Vinita, widow of late police officer Ashok Kamte, who died fighting terrorists during the 26/11 attack, today expressed satisfaction over the hanging of Pakistani gunman Kasab saying though belated, the government had done justice to the families of the martyrs.

"Though it took a long time, justice has been done to us. The authorities maintained extreme secrecy to carry out the execution and we are satisfied," she said reacting to the news of Kasab's hanging at Yerwada jail here.

Former NSG chief J K Dutt, who had headed the 'black cat' commando operation in Mumbai in 2008, said efforts should be made to bring the real people behind these terror attacks to justice.

"I feel that all the ten terrorists who were involved in the incident had been accounted for but there was still some distance to cover because there were some other conspirators behind this incident sitting elsehwere and for full justice to be done I think those people need to be brought to account," he said.