Sir, is it true that Pakistan was sent letters informing that Kasab has been hanged and it rejected those letters? Is that your information?
External affairs minister: The information I have is as under the law we are required and in sense of propriety we attempted to convey to the Pakistan Foreign Office that this decision had 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. Therefore, 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.
Sir, Kasab has been buried according to Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra. Now you are saying if the government of Pakistan or the family makes a request for his body, it will be considered. Is that the correct understanding of what you said?
External affairs minister: I would imagine it will have to be considered, as I said, in the light of legal requirements and the light of any other religious dimensions that might have to be considered.
But we have no such request and we have no such information. So, this is, at present, very hypothetical.
Sir, a question on Gaza. The Palestinian side has marked a protest with the Ministry of External Affairs, saying the response by the Indian side is very weak. Are you going to condemn the attack and the killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip?
External affairs minister: We have stated and I must acknowledge my colleague E Ahamed was in touch with the media yesterday. And, we did say very categorically that disproportionate use of force is unacceptable. This is a very sad and tragic escalation of violence that has caused loss of some innocent lives, particularly of women and children. We consider that completely unacceptable. We urge that peace must be restored immediately and whatever efforts are being made for peace being restored and de-escalation of violence takes place. Our effort is that we support categorically. And, we expect and hope that that is what will happen.
We also want to make it very clear that our support for the Palestinian cause remains undiluted. We would reconfirm that support. We believe that Palestine deserves an independent sovereign state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We are confirming that position.
But, at the same time, I think what is important right now is that de-escalation takes place, peace return, and that the disproportionate use of force that is being inflicted is something that is completely and totally unacceptable.
Sir, back to Kasab. If the missives were rejected by Pakistan, how did we indicate to them about this execution?
External affairs minister: We did send a fax message to the ministry. That is normally what is done when there is no other way of communication. A fax message was sent to the foreign ministry in Pakistan.
Sir, was the postponement of the visit of Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Mallik also linked with the entire process leading up to the execution of Kasab?
External affairs minister: I do not think that there is any link between these. As you know, we decide everything on merit. And, I believe the home minister made an assessment, and it was agreed that while Parliament is going to be in session, there will not be ample time and, indeed, there were other factors were taken into account. But it was decided that there will be another, more appropriate time for a visit of this nature.
Sir, about the closure of the Kasab chapter. How do you want the world to see the event and what sort of expectation do you have from Pakistan at this juncture regarding the 26/11 trials in Pakistan?
External affairs minister: Frankly, as I said, we have the rule of law to prevail in our country and similarly we hope and expect that rule of law will prevail in Pakistan as well.
I think there is not a vast difference between criminal procedures in our country and Pakistan. And, if that is upheld, I would imagine that they will be able to say that they have done whatever it takes to reach closure on an extremely unpleasant and unhappy event that caused enormous, enormous distress to our country and indeed a tremendous amount of tragic loss to our people.
Sir, by rejecting the message, has Pakistan disowned Kasab and Jaish, as they did in …(Inaudible)…
External affairs minister: I am not sure what position they have taken. I think that very clearly he was established as a Pakistani citizen. What Pakistan should have done vis-a-vis a citizen who is executed in this country is really for them to take a call on. We did what we were obliged to do, which was to inform them and to inform the address that we were given about the inevitable event.
Would you like to add something? If you want to add something, please do.
Minister of state for external affairs (E Ahamed): As far as Gaza violence is concerned, we have already expressed our anxiety, our concern everything. The violence has to be stopped immediately as early as possible. We also added that disproportionate use of force by Israel which resulted in the death of innocent people, including women and children, is not only unacceptable, it is in a way contemptuous also.
At the same time, we want peace to prevail over there, and aspirations of Palestinian people to justice, freedom and a state of their own with demarcated boundary and also a sovereign state with East Jerusalem as the capital is to be realised.
Excerpt from a press conference addressed by Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid and Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed, in New Delhi on 21 November
